Lawmakers want VP accountable for P5.6 billion DepEd food wastage

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) under its former secretary, Vice President Sara Duterte, must be held responsible for “mismanaging” government resources and funds that led to the agency’s failure to deliver its P5.69-billion feeding program to public school students, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and administration lawmakers said yesterday.

The ACT emphasized that the lapses that led to the delivery of moldy, insect-infested nutribuns, rotting food items, unsanitary packaging, and mislabeled manufacturing and expiry details for the feeding program were a disservice to students from poor and marginalized communities relying on the government for quality nutrition.

“This is also a betrayal of service and waste of public funds. This clearly shows how VP Sara prioritized perpetrating state attacks and serving as mouthpiece of the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict) instead of giving due attention to education as the (DepEd)’s head,” ACT chairman Vladimer Quetua said.

“The ACT join(s) the call for an investigation into major lapses, including blacklisting of erring suppliers and holding the previous DepEd administration accountable for gross failure and negligence, as issues continue to emerge during Congress’ budget deliberations,” Quetua added.

For the ACT chief, holding the previous administration accountable is crucial, as the instance had been the second time that the DepEd supposedly mismanaged and skimped on funds.

Representatives Jay Khonghun (Zambales 1st District) and Paolo Ortega (La Union 1st District), both leaders of the House’s “Young Guns” group, likewise said Duterte should address the “wasted food supplies” in the students’ feeding program in public schools across the country, as per the Commission on Audit (COA) report when she was still education secretary.

“She should not blame others for this; she might as well face the real and hard truth. The children should have benefitted from this program. Being the DepEd chief then, she should have made sure this program was fully implemented,” Khonghun said.

“It’s crystal clear that she is liable here based on the principle of command