MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education has vowed to investigate the P25.2 million worth of learning materials that were found damaged in a private contractor’s warehouse.
This, after the Commission on Audit said in its report that 820,682 textbooks for Grade 2 students ended up being damaged by water in the warehouse of Lexicon Press, Inc.—the publisher awarded with the contract to re-print 2,440,336 copies of Grade 2 learning materials in February 2016.
The damaged learning materials were later disposed of to clean the area and eradicate bad odor.
The state auditors said that an investigation should be conducted “to establish persons who should be held responsible and accountable for the loss incurred and institute recovery procedures.”
According to the report of DepEd’s Bureau of Learning Resources, the department and Lexicon mutually agreed to the temporary safekeeping of the completed learning materials due to several failed biddings for the forwarding services.
“Until the successful procurement of such, the completed learning materials would be stored at Lexicon’s warehouse at no additional cost for the department and would be delivered in partial to DepEd’s existing warehouse,” the agency said.
The winning forwarder discovered the damaged learning materials on January 17 and 20 last year. DepEd received Lexicon’s report on the damage on February 9, 2017.
“BLR promptly dispatched its personnel to confirm the extent of damage but noted that it had neither information nor control over Lexicon’s decision to dispose of the damaged learning materials,” DepEd said.
DepEd added that a review of the legal implications is also set.
“The department continues to coordinate with the COA on developments and remains steadfast to its commitment to uphold transparency and accountability in all its transactions and in the responsible delivery of basic education resources and services,” it said.