#DepEd

This includes the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and Department of Education (DepEd). Following the laptop mess, the Department of Education (DepEd) is faced again with another overpricing allegation concerning various camera equipment procured by the agency. On January 31, activist Renato Reyes tweeted a photo by professional photographer Jhun Dantes showing a Canon 1500D DSLR camera allegedly procured by DepEd. (@natoreyes) January 31, 2023 Reyes observed that the device, marked with a DepEd sticker indicating a price of ₱155,929, could be acquired online for just approximately Php 23,000 with kit lens already. On the other hand, DepEd refuted the allegation, claiming that the unit shown in the photo was a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV which is around Php 138,000 (body only) if based on iPrice. “It was being claimed that certain cameras were procured back in 2019 if I’m not mistaken and when I looked into it ang nasa picture was an entry level camera,” said Michael Poa, DepEd spokesperson. “But when I asked the Public Affairs service regarding the cameras being used by DepEd, lahat naman po ‘yan Mark 4, so hindi po sya ‘yung entry level na camera,” Poa explained. Previously, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recommended pressing graft and corruption charges against Christopher Lloyd Lao, a previous Department of Budget and Management - Procurement Service (PS-DBM) head, and some former and present DepEd top executives regarding the purchased laptops in 2021 that were overpriced by at least Php 979 million. Read more in our articles including "eCAV system launched in the Philippines to digitize academic records" and "After laptop mess: DepEd to probe alleged ‘overpriced’ camera equipment".