Palace sees nothing wrong with new DepEd service vehicles

Malacañang said Monday it sees nothing wrong with the purchase of over 200 new vehicles of the Department of Education (DepEd) after the agency drew flak for the procurement.

The DepEd drew criticism from teachers’ group who highlighted the meager allowances of educators in contrast to the purchase of brand new Mitsubishi Strada pick-up trucks.

READ: The Mitsubishi Strada is the new official vehicle of DepEd

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the purchase was long planned even before the pandemic hit the country.

“Lahat po ng napo-procure sa taong ito eh, matagal na po iyong nasa drawing board. Itong pagbili po ng transportasyon ng DepEd, 2016 pa po iyan na-identify na pangangailangan ng DepEd at ngayon lang po iyan nabili nga ano pero iyan po ay included sa 2019 budget,” he said.

(Everything that is procured this year has long been in the drawing board. The purchase of DepEd of new vehicles has been identified since 2016 and was only bought now. But that has been included in the 2019 budget.)

“Bago pa po dumating ang pandemya eh naaprubahan na po iyang budget na iyan.” 

(That budget was approved even before the pandemic.)

The new vehicles, according to DepEd, will be used by its field service engineers for inspections. Roque said the purchase was important since engineers help out in the distribution of print modules.

DepEd regional offices, according to Roque, will also use the vehicles to do rounds in communities during this pandemic.