THE supplier of the custom-made laptops issued to teachers under the Department of Education (DepEd) could face legal troubles if found to be responsible for supplying the devices to be sold at a surplus shop in Mandaue City.
This was what Cristito Eco, DepEd Central Visayas assistant director, told SunStar Cebu when he and his team visited SunStar on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
Eco and members of his team were in SunStar Cebu’s newsroom on Tuesday to check out the laptop set that a concerned citizen had bought last week from HMR Cebu, a surplus shop in Mandaue City, which was found to be custom-made for DepEd’s teachers.
Eco said even if the laptops were found to be “excess” of what the supplier had provided to DepEd, the supplier could still be held liable for its failure to inform the agency of its plan to sell the laptops to other merchandisers.
Eco said the supplier should have secured clearance from DepEd if it planned to dispose of or sell the laptops elsewhere.
“If found that they did not follow the proper disposal procedure, the supplier might face legal charges about it, though we could not identify those yet at this time,” Eco added.
A concerned citizen earlier reported to SunStar Cebu that when he bought the laptop set at HMR Cebu last week, he noticed markings that had been partially scraped from the laptop and its accessories.
The scraping out of markings that were etched on the backside of the screen display and below the front screen display of the laptop, and on the mouse, were very visible when the product was supposed to be brand new.
A portable loudspeaker with a lapel microphone was among the accessories for the laptop. The speaker had the DepEd’s “Sulong EduKalidad” sticker. The packaging of the headset also bore DepEd’s slogan and project “Procurement of DCP Packages” markings.
DCP means Department of Education Computerization Program.
Probe still ongoing
Eco said their verification as to how the custom-made laptops came to be sold in a surplus shop in Cebu is still ongoing.
“We are already in the consolidating process for all the information we have collected through our ongoing investigation. We will submit this to the Central Office (DepEd Manila) for them to formulate an official statement,” Eco said.
SunStar Cebu visited HMR Cebu’s office on Tuesday to get its side of the story, but no representative for the store was willing to make a statement. (HIC, EHP)