The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) urges the Office of the Ombudsman to pursue full and swift justice following its finding of probable cause to indict former DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones, former PS-DBM head Lloyd Christopher Lao, and several other officials for their roles in the anomalous ₱2.4-billion procurement of overpriced and outdated laptops for public school teachers.
This development is a vindication of what teachers, watchdog groups, and even the Commission on Audit have raised that billions of pesos intended to aid public school teachers in adapting to remote teaching were wasted, misused, and ultimately weaponized for profit.
The Ombudsman’s finding that the overpriced laptops were not only outdated, overpriced as much as P979.36 million, and unable to fulfill their intended purpose—but were also procured through a scheme involving altered documents, falsified testimonies, and collusion—is damning.
All this while teachers were forced to borrow laptops, spend their own salaries, or use outdated equipment to fulfill their duties under impossible conditions. At the height of the pandemic, while the education sector was reeling from widespread shortages of learning materials, internet connectivity, classrooms, and support, officials of the Department of Education and the PS-DBM were apparently more concerned with profiteering.
This is a gross betrayal of public trust and a direct attack on the welfare of our teachers and learners.
These acts occurred in the context of an education system already in deep crisis, marked by decades-long shortages in infrastructure, personnel, and learning outcomes. To rob the sector of ₱2.4 billion in this context is unconscionable.
We urge the Office of the Ombudsman to expedite the prosecution of all those involved, regardless of their former rank or political affiliations. The government must recover the full amount of public funds lost through overpricing. All officials who falsified public documents or gave perjured testimonies under oath must be held accountable. Lastly, there must be concrete and lasting safeguards to prevent similar abuses in future government procurements, especially in the education sector.
Corruption in education is not only theft of public funds—it is theft from the labor of teachers, the dignity of learners, and the future of a people already burdened by a system built on exploitation and neglect.#
