MANILA — The Department of Education (DepEd) has set a review to validate the reports of the Commission on Audit (COA) regarding the damaged Grade 2 materials found in a printing press.
In a statement released Monday night, the office of the Education secretary said it is coordinating with COA on the development of the investigation and has also set a review of its legal implications.
On June 19, the department has started the review and the establishment of legal solutions with regard to the 820,682 Grade 2 learning materials damaged by water at the warehouse of Lexicon Press, Inc.
According to the reports of DepEd’s Bureau of Learning Resources (BLR), the publisher was awarded with contract to re-print 2,440,336 copies of the Grade 2 learning materials in February 2016.
BLR’s report said that DepEd and Lexicon mutually agreed to the temporary safekeeping of the completed learning materials due to several failed biddings for the forwarding services and for the refurbishment of DepEd’s warehouse in Taguig City.
The learning materials would be stored at Lexicon’s warehouse at no additional cost for the department and would be delivered in partial to DepEd’s existing warehouses.
The report also said that the partial delivery of the completed learning materials started in June 2016. The publisher discovered the damaged learning materials amounting to PHP 25,041,321.69, between January 17 and 20, 2017.
The DepEd said it received Lexicon’s report about the damage on February 9, 2017. The BLR sent personnel to confirm the extent of damage but noted that it had neither information nor control over Lexicon’s decision to dispose of the damaged learning materials. (Ma. Teresa Montemayor/PNA)
