After theoverpriced laptop issue, the Department of Education is again hit with another criticism as it allegedly purchased an overpriced DSLR camera.
Last Tuesday, activist Renato Reyes Tweeted a Facebook post from photographer Jhun Dantes that shows a Canon DSLR camera that was said to be procured by the education department.
The sticker attached to the camera shows that it was acquired at a cost of Php155,929. Now, we’ve clearly seen professional cameras priced similarly, with some going even higher. However, the particular model pictured is actually only worth around Php23,000.
“It was being claimed that certain cameras were procured back in 2019 if I’m not mistaken and when I looked into it ang nasa picture was an entry-level camera,” said DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa.
“But when I asked the Public Affairs service regarding the cameras being used by DepEd, lahat naman po yan Mark 4, sohindi po sya yung entry level na camera,” Poa explained.
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Last January 19, the Philippine senate recommended the filing of graft and corruption charges against Christopher Lloyd Lao, former Department of Budget and Management procurement service head, as well as some current DepEd officials over the overpriced laptops procured in 2021.
To help prevent similar issues to happen in the future, Poa said that the department has already put up a new office that will focus on its procurement process.
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The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) is urging the DepEd, the Commission on Audit, and the senate to investigate the new latest allegation of overpriced cameras.
Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte pledged to address corruption in the education department. ACT Chairperson Vladimer Quetua said that Duterte’s promise “will only be meaningful if we see that concrete actions on the anomalies are executed.”
Via:CNN Philippines