SEN. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada has asked the Commission on Audit to conduct an audit of the five alleged favored suppliers of the Department of Education.
In a letter addressed to COA Chair Jose Calida dated October 3, 2022, Estrada identified the five suppliers as Advance Solutions Inc., Columbia Technologies Inc., Reddot Imaging Philippines Inc., and Girltekki Inc.
“This is to request your good office for an audit inspection on the reported ‘Favored Suppliers’ in the Department of Education,” Estrada said in the letter.
Estrada earlier said these suppliers have cornered nearly all DepEd contracts and have been awarded millions of pesos worth of contracts through the years.
He said Advance Solutions Inc. (ASI), for one, has cornered close to P6 billion worth of contracts since 2015.
He said awarding contracts to ASI, along with a few “favored suppliers,” should have raised “red flags” within the DepEd.
Estrada also said COA should determine if the DepEd has resorted to “splitting of contracts” to be able to grant multi-billion peso deals to few favored suppliers.
“I also noticed that there have been several repeat orders made in favor of these suppliers. Take note that under Section 51 of the IRR (Implementing Rules and Regulations) of Republic Act 9184… the effect of repeat orders is that it dispenses with or forego the conduct of competitive public bidding,” he earlier said.
