ACT TEACHERS Partylist Rep. France Castro slammed the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Education for undelivered learning materials worth P5.53 billion.

According to the annual audit report of the Commission on Audit, DepEd has a P6.65 billion outstanding fund transfers to PS-DBM, of which 83 percent or P5.53 billion was meant for the procurement of computer hardware and software and various instructional and learning materials and textbooks.

“Nakakagalit makarinig ng ganitong balita matapos makita ang pinagdaanan ng mga guro at magulang na kanya-kanyang sikap sa paghahanap ng mga gadgets, kanya-kanyang diskarte sa pagkalap ng papel, ink at printer sa pag-print ng mga module. Madalas ay gumagastos na mula sa sariling bulsa mula sa kakarampot na suweldo ang mga guro para lamang makapagpatuloy ng pag-aaral ang kanilang mga estudyante at mga anak,” Castro said.

“These undelivered learning materials shows the Duterte administration’s lack of priority, urgency and belittles the importance of providing access to quality education amid a pandemic,” she added.

According to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, the P5.53 billion funds could have been used to procure 221,200 laptops.

“The Duterte administration shows no urgency in the timely distribution of learning materials and other resources amid the pandemic. This is very critical in ensuring that there is continuity of education and that it is still quality education to limit learning loss amid the blended distance learning modes,” Castro said.