Purchase of 166 brand new vehicles defended by DepEd

Recently, the Department of Education (DepEd) recieved 166 Strada 4x4 GLS MT units from Mitsubishi Motors Carworld Pampanga. These vehicles will be added to the DepEd fleet, which already includes 88 trucks released to the agency in December 2019.

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Following the event, a teachers' group and teachers expressed their dismay on the departments move, saying that it was an insensible use of funds at a time when teachers have been shouldering the costs of implementing distance learning.

On Monday, DepEd defended the purchase of service vehicles for its engineers, saying that this is in line with its efforts to properly equip its local offices to be more effective and fast in the delivery of services to students and teachers.

Those vehicles have been procured prior to the pandemic and when we were about to distribute them, Enhanced Community Quarantine was in place, that is why we were able to distribute these just recently,

DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Alain Pascua said.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines slammed the agency for purchasing over 100 Mitsubishi Strada (4×4 GLS MT) which cost P1,465,000 each.

ACT also accused DepEd of questionable use of its funds at a time when it should be providing all the basic needs under distance learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Basilio said it was not an excuse if the department had purchased the vehicles before the pandemic since shortages in basic learning needs have long troubled the education system. DepEd should have considered the plight of the teachers who were assigned in far-flung areas first.

He added that said that the service vehicles could be better “maximized if it will be used to deliver modules to learners in remote areas, or if its funds were used for the special hardship allowance of teachers who cross seas and mountains to reach their students.”

Education Undersecretary Alain Pascua said the department procured the 4x4 trucks, even before the pandemic so DepEd personnel could reach schools in far-flung areas. He said that Mitsubishi won the bidding which was the lowest.

During the ECQ period, the vehicles were used to transport frontliners due to the ban on public transportation, Pascua said.

Prior to school opening and even until now, those vehicles have been used and are being used in the delivery of modules, in transporting teachers, and in addressing emergencies,

he said.

DepEd’s field engineers have been riding with school building contractors when inspecting project sites in far-flung areas, which may compromise their investigations and reports on the projects, he explained. That is why the departments engineers where chosen to make use of the new vehicles.

Pascua said the department’s disaster risk reduction management personnel would also use the 4x4 trucks in times of emergencies and calamities.

DepEd Undersecretary for Finance Annalyn Sevilla said these vehicles were budgeted in previous years under the 2018 and 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA). 

Pascua maintained that these vehicles were purchased to help in the better delivery of education services to the stakeholders. 

Binili talaga yan ng DepEd para mas makapag-serbisyo at mas makapaglingkod sa ating mamayan, lalo na sa malalalyong lugar na di maabot ng ordinaryong sasakyan.

[DepEd really bought that to better serve our people, especially in remote areas that are not accessible by ordinary vehicles.]

In an Aide Memoire dated October 1, Pascua also announced the purchase of laptops, drones, and other equipment for governance. 

Aside from the 4×4 pickups, 183 passenger vans were also purchased and will be distributed nationwide. There were also 794 executive units and 3, 588 standard units of laptops and 490 units of drones for distribution.