COA calls out another procurement fumble of public school teachers’ laptopsMANILA, Philippines — Procurement issues have once again led to the delayed distribution of gadgets to public school teachers, this time involving P53 million worth of laptops and tablets purchased by the Cavite provincial government using its special education fund in 2021. In its annual report for 2022, COA flagged the delayed distribution of 350 laptops worth at least P17 million and more than 4,000 tablets worth P36 million, which public school teachers received "12 to 19 months from the target completion of procurement." Significant delay due to late posting of purchase requestFailure to deliver school gadgets on time was "due to a significant delay in the submission of Purchase Request (PR), posting of procurement opportunity and distribution by the Department of Education (Division Office) to public school teachers and personnel," COA said. COA has instructed the provincial governor to implement "effective measures" for timely purchase request submission and procurement opportunity posting. Alliance of Concerned Teachers Chair Vladimer Quetua said that the delay was a "big inconvenience" to teachers in need of equipment, especially as the laptops were given as the school year was about to end.
