Sara told: Address COA findings on DepEd’s wasted food supplies

ADMINISTRATION lawmakers yesterday told Vice President Sara Duterte to address the Commission on Audit’s findings on the P5.6 billion wasted food supplies during her tenure as Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd), dismissing her accusations of political persecution.

Reps. Jefferson Khonghun of Zambales and Paolo Ortega V of La Union, members of the “Young Guns” bloc, laughed off Duterte’s allegation that President Marcos Jr. and his cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, have conspired with the militant Makabayan bloc to attack her, saying it is meant to distract the public from the real issue of accountability.

They called on the Vice President to stop fabricating the narrative of a non-existent “Makabayan-Marcos-Romualdez” alliance “and instead focus on addressing the damning findings from the COA.”

COA’s audit report revealed significant lapses in the 2023 DepEd feeding program, uncovering defective food items such as moldy, insect-infested nutribuns, rotting food, and mislabeled packaging, depriving students in Aurora, Bulacan, Misamis Oriental, Iligan, and Quezon City of essential nutrition.

“Instead of pointing fingers, it would be better for Vice President Duterte to face the truth.

P5.6 billion worth of food was wasted and students didn’t benefit from it. As a former leader of DepEd, she should have ensured the proper implementation of the project. This is clearly command responsibility. This is not a political issue but proper use of public funds,” Khonghun said in Filipino.

The two Young Guns members earlier said the Vice President should be made to account for “criminal negligence” because she allegedly allowed the feeding of spoiled milk and nutribuns to schoolchildren when she was still the education secretary.

They said the “principal,” Duterte, may be as guilty as her underlings under the principle of command responsibility.

Konghun said that while the administration continues to deliver on its promises, Duterte must address the lapses that led to the failure of a program intended to provide critical nutrition to students.

“This is about transparency and accountability. The public has the right to know what happened to the billions that