Opinion is critical and freedom of expression an inalienable (natural) right. Too is the right to information and often we assume they are the same thing. Yet information is essentially data and fact. Unfortunately, too much reporting the world over is poorly rooted in fact and too heavily in opinion and hearsay. The sorry financial state of traditional media outlets is in part to blame.

(Part 2 of 2)

Claims that some senior officials at the Department of Education (DepEd) in Taguig City have been conspiring to defraud the public purse by fixing bidding contracts for new school buildings are being flatly denied by top officials there who say their colleague who complained of corruption is actually the one guilty of extorting “huge” sums of money from contractors while she served secretariat member of the division office’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).

In a six-page comment addressed to the DepEd Central Office and dated April 18, the Division Office in Taguig City insisted there were no irregularities in the procurement process. The comment written by Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Superintendent Dr. Meleda Polita maintained that the division’s accuser was actually the one responsible for corruption.

(Part 1 of 2)

The Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), the country’s online procurement portal that is widely touted and cited as a model for other countries to follow, has apparently failed to protect the bidding process from corruption within the Department of Education (DepEd) and other public agencies in Taguig City.

A ‘whistleblower’ and rank-and-file employee of DepEd in Taguig City says that she was part of an illegal consortium that fixed contracts and that the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members of the local government’s procurement department, along with several local DepEd officials have been in collusion with favored contractors in the construction of school buildings in exchange for large kickbacks.