Curiously finding itself in the middle of a new laptop corruption issue, the Department of Education (DepEd) has again been exposed of ineptly dealing with shady contractors that failed to deliver laptops to teachers, resulting to these government-owned, tax-funded properties being sold at retailers in Cebu for a much lower price. A remnant problem from the Duterte administration, it has bled through the next with the same tolerance and corruption of that which had replaced it. This is yet another testament to what the state claims as the best and brightest being neither.
An investigative piece published on Rappler reported that former DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones' term had seen the purchase of various gadgets, including laptops and smart TVs as part of the department's bid to modernize the sector.
They awarded the ₱667 Million contract to Transpac Cargo Logistics Inc. (Transpac), who seemingly has neither the history nor the means of fulfilling a contract of this magnitude. This comes at the heels of the recently concluded Senate hearings on the overpriced laptops that DepEd bought.
However, after the contract failed to be fully paid by the next and current DepEd Secretary, Vice President Sara Duterte, Transpac's subcontractors sold the government-owned laptops to alleviate their losses. These Coby laptops were then discovered being sold to the public at a much lower cost than its original value.
If it had not been before, this issue has brought to light the indicative misplaced priorities of the department. For years now, the Dutertes and their allies have been advocating for expensive and useless programs like mandatory ROTC for students while simultaneously tolerating, allowing, and benefiting from corruption that festers under their watch.
They claim that programs that teach nationalism are core to their mandates, but at the same time they turn a blind eye and even participate in wide-scale corruption scandals that ultimately hurt the nation and its learners.
Furthermore, this exposes Vice President and DepEd Secretary Duterte, whose current qualifications and accomplishments for both positions remain far less than ideal. Her role in DepEd has only been prominent upon her expression of desire to militarize students and schools with the mandatory ROTC and the confidential intelligence funds and in the blatant and unprofessional red-tagging and maligning of teachers when she targeted the ACT Teachers party after suggesting to build more classrooms to address the crowded situations in schools around the country.
A recent update on the issue from Rappler suggested that the two officials directly responsible for this multi-million peso mess have resigned.
According to the news website's sources, Undersecretary for Administration Kris Ablan and Undersecretary Christopher Lawrence Arnuco have left their positions in silence, escaping accountability and justice for the corruption they have allegedly failed to stop.
A closer look would warrant no surprise to anyone that the DepEd reeks of corruption and scandals. It has the largest portion of the national budget as mandated by the constitution, ₱710.6 Billion in 2023; an unqualified leader who is obsessed with the most surface level idea of nationalism, a penchant for state violence, and a hungry desire for confidential funds; and a rotten and wasteful system that benefits virtually no one in the education sector.
Truly, the education crisis in the Philippines is neither the learners' nor the educators' fault. The sole blame for this must fall on the people and the system that perpetuate a limiting and restricting learning experience for students and teachers. What could have been a massive improvement of facilities and resources for the learning community across the country has once again become another failed attempt that wasted both the people's time and money.
The laptops stand now as a metaphor for the Filipino student and the state that DepEd has left them. Efficient, adaptable, and useful but subjected to so much corruption and negligence that they're now valued much less than their worth.
A time like today warrants a revamp and a massive remodel of the education system. Today is an unprecedented era of bold-faced government disinformation, red-tagging, and a global war against attention span raging in social media, altogether assaulting our education sector.
To aid in truly defeating these woes, the solution must begin at the top. As long as officials of DepEd are unqualified, inept, and slow to act, no amount of curriculum improvement or shiny new gadgets can truly help a Filipino student in their learning.
Article: Christian John P. Argallon
Graphics: Randzmar Longcop
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