MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) is calling for an investigation of Department of Education (DepEd) officials responsible for the loss of P25.2 million worth of Grade 2 textbooks stored in a private contractor’s warehouse in Taguig.

In a 2017 report released yesterday, state auditors said 820,682 learning materials (LMs) ended up being damaged and rendered useless due to insufficient warehousing facilities to house the deliveries and to lack of prudence on the part of DepEd to ensure their safety.

Records show that DepEd, through the Instructional Materials Council Secretariat, now named the Bureau of Learning Resources, started the procurement of various LMs in the last quarter of 2015 for different grade levels.

State auditors said DepEd opted to separate the procurement of printing from the delivery of items – including Grade 2 English, ESP, MTB-MLE, Araling Panlipunan, Filipino, MAPEH and Mathematics books – to respective recipients. It added that DepEd paid Lexicon Press Inc. and its venture partner FNB Educational Inc. a total of P72,124,094 by Dec. 21, 2016.

The COA report said its audit team received information in August 2017 that copies of the Grade 2 LMs delivered by Lexicon Press Inc. were damaged and already disposed of, prompting state auditors to conduct an inquiry and initial verification.

Investigators found that the textbooks were damaged because of the defective inside gutter and downspouts, causing flood inside the warehouse. They also found that the damaged LMs were disposed of to clean the area and eradicate bad odor.

State auditors attributed the loss of the Grade 2 textbooks to poor planning that resulted in non-availability of the needed services and storage facilities for the purchased items.

“As DepEd opted to separate the procurement of the printing of LMs from the delivery of said materials to respective recipients, the availability of the needed storage facilities should have been addressed in due time,” the COA report noted.

It added that, “the bulk of the procurement apparently requires adequate warehouse facilities for the storage and safety of 2,440,336 expected copies of Grade 2 LMs. While DepEd may have foreseen the needs, it failed to timely address the said needs as inspection conducted revealed that the capacity and availability of the DepEd-BLR warehouses was not sufficient to accommodate all the printed LMs procured.”

The COA report added that a review of DepEd’s Annual Procurement Plan revealed several lapses in the procurement planning for the printing of LMs, as both the procurement of forwarding services and the refurbishment of the needed warehouses were only done months after the expected delivery date of Nov. 30, 2015.

“The deficiency in planning was apparently a contributing factor for the loss, which can also be directly attributed to the prevalent delay in the bidding/procurement activities of DepEd,” the audit team pointed out.

State auditors said an investigation should be conducted “to establish persons who should be held responsible and accountable for the loss incurred and institute recovery procedures.”

The COA report said DepEd should also require the officers concerned to explain the deficiencies noted and, when warranted by circumstances, should be meted out with appropriate sanctions as a consequence of improper acts.

The audit team further advised DepEd to “exercise due diligence in procurement planning for an effective service delivery, allowing for appropriate contingency measures to prevent losses of government resources.”

It also urged them to “revisit DepEd’s guidelines on supply and property management and strengthen the system of accountability of involved DepEd officials as well as the monitoring of the implementation thereof by responsible and accountable officers to ensure proper observance to duties and responsibilities.”