The Department of Education in the region 7, is under investigation for the alleged scam in the bidding of school furniture supplies amounting to millions of pesos including the province of Bohol. Bohol Division Superintendent Dr. Elpidio Jala has defended the acquisition of the furniture (desks and chairs) for use of different schools in the province. The allegation stemmed from the BAC action of awarding the bid to the highest winning bidder, which appeared to a contradiction to government rules that the lowest bid should have been given the award. Jala confirmed that a complaint was filed against officials of the DepEd including members of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) Bohol for the alleged irregularities in the bidding of the P10-million worth of furniture supplies. BAC Bohol awarded the project to the highest bidder— Manila-based Hope Metal and Furniture Manufacturing Incorporated—with an amount bid of P2,768,615.00 but the lowest bid amounted to P1,973,625.00 submitted by Monlac Furniture Maker. DepEd reportedly stood to lose amounting to P2.5 million when the project was awarded to highest bidder while the six other bidders were disqualified for the defective samples. The disqualified contractors alleged that there was “favoritism” because the Manila-based bidder is a nephew of a top DepEd official that the report did not identify..
