VICE President Sara Duterte urged the government to expand its investigation into the laptop corruption scandal at the Department of Education (DepEd), asserting that the case already involves resigned Ako Bicol Representative Elizalde “Zaldy” Co.
In a press conference in Zamboanga City Tuesday, October 14, Duterte said that during her tenure as education secretary from July 2022 to September 2024, the agency conducted an internal inquiry into the matter.
“Kasi kung talagang seryoso ang [Ombudsman] sa pag-iimbestiga, imbestigahan din nila ‘yung laptop corruption scandal ng Department of Education. Nandoon si Zaldy Co. At alam ko ‘yon dahil gumawa kami ng sarili naming investigation sa loob ng Department of Education noong ako ay Education Secretary,” Duterte said.
(Because if the [Ombudsman] is truly serious about investigating, they should also look into the laptop corruption scandal at the Department of Education. Zaldy Co is involved there. And I know that because we conducted our own investigation within the Department of Education when I was the Education Secretary.)
“May I just say na merong confidential funds [ang DepEd] na pumunta doon sa paghahanap ng ebidensya sa investigation na ‘yon,” she added.
(May I just say that the Department of Education had confidential funds that were used to gather evidence for that investigation.)
Duterte said Sunwest Inc., of which Co is a co-founder, was a contractor in DepEd’s laptop program.
Co was earlier accused of receiving billions of pesos in kickbacks from alleged anomalous flood control projects.
Sunwest Inc. was among the top 15 contractors that cornered the most flood control projects across the country.
The Vice President also appeared to implicate former House Speaker Martin Romualdez in the budget allocation for the agency’s school building program fund.
“‘Yung listahan na ginawa nila para sa Department of Education, worthy ‘yon na tingnan kung sino ‘yung mga sinulat ni Martin Romualdez na mga congressman na makakatanggap sa school building program fund,” Duterte said.
(The list they made for the Department of Education is worth looking into to see which congressmen Martin Romualdez included as recipients of the school building program fund.)
The Commission on Audit (COA), in its 2021 annual audit report, flagged irregularities in the purchase of P2.4 billion worth of laptops by the DepEd.
The COA said the laptops were overpriced and outdated. The procurement was handled by the Procurement Service–Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).
Following the COA’s findings, charges of graft and falsification were filed against former Education Secretary Leonor Briones and former Budget Undersecretary Christopher Lao before the Office of the Ombudsman.
Duterte also took a swipe at the administration for what she described as a selective investigation into corruption in the government.
“So bakit specific ‘yung pag-iimbestiga? Bakit hindi iniimbestigahan lahat ng corruption scandal? Bakit kinokontrol ‘yung kuwento sa korapsyon? Bakit hindi nilalabas lahat ng mga insidente o mga gawain o mga eskandalo sa korapsyon? Bakit pinipili?” Duterte said.
(So why is the investigation so specific? Why aren’t all corruption scandals being investigated? Why is the narrative on corruption being controlled? Why aren’t all incidents, activities, or scandals of corruption being exposed? Why are they being selective?)
“Kaya natin nasasabi lahat na mayroong controlling the narrative ay dahil pinipili nila kung ano ‘yung gusto nilang imbestigahan. At kung napapansin niyo, kapag medyo tatamaan na o merong tatamaan na talaga ang Office of the President, ang administration sa imbestigasyon, ay biglang namamatay ‘yung imbestigasyon. O nawawala, o nalilibing, o nalulubog ‘yung imbestigasyon. So ibig sabihin, meron talagang pagkontrol sa kuwento,” she added.
(That’s why we can all say there’s controlling of the narrative—because they choose what they want to investigate. And if you notice, whenever the Office of the President or the administration is about to be implicated in an investigation, it suddenly dies down. It disappears, gets buried, or fades away. That means there really is control over the narrative.)
Corruption issues resurfaced after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. ordered an in-depth investigation into alleged anomalies in flood control projects across the country.
Marcos created the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) to look into corruption related to infrastructure projects, particularly flood control.
Duterte, however, expressed doubts about the credibility of the ICI.
“Pero hanggang ngayon, wala pa ring nananagot. So para bang ako dapat ang iimbestigahan, ako din ang gumawa kung sino ang mag-iimbestiga sa akin. So, on the question of integrity, definitely, ano siya, hindi siya reliable dahil ang Pangulo din ang gumawa,” Duterte said.
(But until now, no one has been held accountable. It’s as if I’m the one being investigated, yet I’m also the one who decided who will investigate me. So, on the question of integrity, it’s definitely not reliable because it was the President himself who created it.) (TPM/SunStar Philippines)