DepEd denies free trip from bidder

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) yesterday denied allegations that some of its inspectors received a free trip to China to inspect the production facility of one of its bidders.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones ordered Robert Agustin, DepEd’s director for administrative service, to shed light on details of the alleged trip last February 2016 to the production facility of Multifocus Corp. in China.

“Contrary to reports, the initial result of DepEd’s investigation revealed that the department itself funded the trip,” DepEd said in a statement.

“Being the procuring entity, DepEd shouldered the expenses to visit the production site, which was requested by Multifocus Corp. pursuant to the terms and conditions of its contract,” it added.

DepEd said the authorized inspectorate team – approved by then education secretary Armin Luistro – consisted of Agustin, National Science Teaching Instrumentation Center director Raul La Rosa as end-user, an engineer and an architect.

“La Rosa as well contradicted the claim that the specifications of the items were changed, further stating that they conducted a stress-test, which yielded that the dimensions, construction and quality of the Math and Science equipment complied with the technical specifications,” DepEd said.

The agency issued the statement after the Filipino Alliance for Transparency and Empowerment called on DepEd to investigate the allegations.

Earlier, Multifocus filed a complaint against another supplier, PHILAB Industries Inc., for supposedly failing to deliver on some of its contracts.

Multifocus also alleged that DepEd should not allow PHILAB to participate in future biddings following the partial termination of one contract last year.

Last Nov. 7, Briones suspended PHILAB from participating in biddings with the DepEd for one year as a result of the termination of the contract.