A militant lawmaker on Wednesday urged the House of Representatives to probe allegations that Transpac Cargo Logistics Inc. is holding hostage billions worth of learning materials of the Department of Education.
“This should be investigated immediately especially since there are already initial findings in the 2022 Annual Audit Report that several boxes of school supplies of DepEd were not delivered because of their supplier, Transpac,” Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro said.
“These supplies were procured using public funds. This must not happen again. If they are not punished or blacklisted, they will just repeat this and our teachers and learners will be put at a disadvantage again,” she added.
House Resolution 1516 noted that the Education department has already filed a civil case to
retrieve the earning materials that Transpac allegedly refused to release.
The resolution also noted that it was under then Education Secretary Leonor Briones of the Duterte administration that DepEd entered into a P667-million logistics agreement with Transpac.
The implementation of the agreement, however, overlapped with the current administration, with Vice President Sara Duterte at the helm of DepEd.
In May, the Makabayan bloc also filed a resolution to probe the sale of laptops meant for public school teachers in surplus shops in Cebu and Rizal provinces.
The Makabayan lawmakers said the sale of the laptops was connected to DepEd’s contract with Transpac, a logistics company in Las Piñas.
Transpac said DepEd failed to settle P34.5 million in payments to them, which was why the laptops were not delivered.
The company said its subcontractors sold laptops to mitigate the losses they incurred.
