ACT Teachers Representative Antonio Tinio on Saturday welcomed the Office of the Ombudsman’s move to file graft and falsification charges against former Education Secretary Leonor Briones and 13 other officials over the ₱2.4-billion overpriced laptop procurement scandal.

“This vindicates our persistent calls for accountability in the misuse of public funds intended for our teachers,” Tinio said.

“The Ombudsman’s findings confirm what we’ve been saying all along—that this deal was not only grossly overpriced but also deprived thousands of teachers of the quality equipment they needed during the pandemic,” he added.

The Ombudsman found the government overpaid nearly ₱1 billion for outdated laptops that failed to meet technical specifications. As a result, the number of intended beneficiaries dropped from 68,500 to just 39,583 public school teachers.

“Ang ₱2.4 bilyong pondo na ito ay dapat sana nakatulong sa mas maraming guro sa panahon ng pandemya. Pero dahil sa korapsyon at palpak na procurement, hindi lang tumaas ang presyo ng laptops, bumaba rin ang kalidad,” Tinio stressed.

Tinio recalled that ACT Teachers, along with other members of the Makabayan bloc, filed House Resolutions 189 and 950 in the 19th Congress to investigate the anomaly.

“The laptops were procured at ₱58,270 per unit, while the market price for the same Dell model ranged only from ₱22,490 to ₱25,000. This is a clear case of plunder disguised as procurement,” he said.

Tinio also noted the laptops delivered were equipped with Intel Celeron processors—the lowest tier of Intel chips—which failed to meet the required 1.9 GHz clock speed.

“Hindi lang nila pinalaki ang presyo, binaba pa ang kalidad ng mga laptop. Ito ay double insult sa aming mga educators na nangangailangan ng de-kalidad na kagamitan para sa distance learning,” he added.

The congressman urged the swift prosecution of cases and full recovery of the stolen funds.

“We demand that all those responsible for this massive corruption be held fully accountable. The ₱979.36 million in undue injury to the government must be recovered and returned to the people,” Tinio said.

“Ang mga guro at mag-aaral ang tunay na biktima ng korapsyon na ito. Kailangan nating siguruhing hindi na mauulit ang ganitong klaseng pagnanakaw sa pondo ng edukasyon,” he added.