THE DEPARTMENT of Education gave assurances that it will “submit to the process” in addressing the issue of pricy laptops it purchased for public school teachers in 2021.

In a statement, DepEd said it welcomes the congressional probe on the acquisition of the laptops by the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service.

“DepEd believes that this matter needs to be resolved immediately, and we submit to the process as we commit to transparency and accountability—even if the issue only involves an Audit Observation Memorandum, which requires the submission of documents to the Commission of Audit (COA),” the agency said.

In its 2021 annual audit report, COA flagged the DepEd for the expensive laptops it bought for P2.4 billion. The high cost cut the number of recipients by nearly half nationwide.

State auditors pointed out that DepEd’s agency procurement request was for P35,046.50 per laptop but the DBM-PS’ recommended approved budget for the contract was for P58,300 each.

The purchase of the more expensive laptops resulted in the procurement of fewer units, depriving over 28,000 teachers of the benefit, COA said.

Meanwhile, DepEd called on ACT Teachers Party-list Representative France Castro “to be prudent” in her pronouncement regarding the matter.

“DepEd believes that it is not right to declare that the contract was anomalous without a final report by COA, much less findings from the Ombudsman,” it said.

“We also take exception to the statement that teachers are ‘binabarat.’ DepEd has always been proactive in promoting teachers’ welfare over the years,” it added.