Former Education Undersecretary Epimaco Densing (Voltaire F. Domingo/ Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Johnny Pimentel has claimed that former Department of Education (DepEd) undersecretary Epimaco Densing asked lawmakers for kickbacks in exchange for the continuation of school building projects in their districts.
At the House committee on good government and public accountability’s hearing on Thursday, Pimentel called out Densing as his alleged associate, Greg Morillo, supposedly contacted Pimentel so that he and Densing could meet.
Pimentel said when he asked what the purpose of the meeting was, Morillo allegedly told him that it was to discuss something.
“Prior to the bidding, this Mr. Greg Morillo, who’s a close friend of Mr Densing, called me and this is what he said: ‘How are you Congressman?’ I said I was good. [He then said] ‘Congressman you have a P170-million budget for your district’,” Pimentel said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“I said that it was scheduled for bidding, in fact it was being bid as we spoke. He said ‘Ah sir, can you talk with Mr. Densing first?’ Those are the exact words of him, we can face each other. He said maybe you can show up before Mr. Densing first. I said ‘what for?’ He said ‘you already know that, you will talk about something’,” Pimentel added. “Right there and then, I already knew what was the topic, as Mr. Densing would ask for a commission.”
According to Pimentel, when he did not agree to meet Densing, the funds for the school buildings in his district were withheld.
He also said Densing tried to meet with other lawmakers, supposedly even bringing a contractor with him, who would be tapped to construct the school buildings.
“So I did not entertain that anymore, and Mr. Chair, lo and behold, the funds did not come through. The bidding was canceled and lost because I did not come across the request of Mr. Densing, that he gets a commission. And not only that, Mr. Densing, I was not the only victim, there are other congressmen,” Pimentel said.
“And for the record…many congressmen told me that in fact, you approached them too. In fact, there is one congressman in Visayas that you asked for an 18 percent commission of these school buildings because you will decide who gets classrooms and who does not,” he added.
Before Pimentel’s accusations, Densing said the allocations for school buildings were diminished, so DepEd prioritized infrastructure programs below P100 million.
“What happened Mr. Chair is this. When the General Appropriations Bill came out, the P19.7 billion increased to P24.7 billion, but the P14.7 billion [for school buildings] had an Annex A. In other words, these are the projects identified by congressmen,” Densing explained.
“So the P15.1 billion was lost, and what we initially did was for the buildings with huge allocations of P100 million upwards, we cut that so that we can allocate to smaller projects. So the P15.1 billion went down to just P5.8 billion,” he added.
Pimentel said Densing placed it upon himself to determine what school building projects would be continued and what would be stopped. However, Pimentel said this was just a farce as the true reason was Densing wanted commissions.
“That is the reason why Mr. Chair, Mr. Densing was removed from DepEd. He did not resign. I knew from the very beginning that he would be taken out because there were anomalies in the distribution in the allocation of school buildings program … One official of the new administration from DepEd called me,” the lawmaker said.
“What did he say, Mr. Densing? ‘Cong, you have a P34-million project for Bislig Central Elementary School?’ I said yes. He asked, ‘have you done a bidding already?’ I said ‘No, they’ve stopped it.’ Then he said ‘Sir, we will release it because it was withheld by Mr. Densing’. And that is the reason why this person was taken out of DepEd because of his anomalous practices in DepEd,” he added.
Densing said Pimentel’s accusation was a blatant lie, adding that he was “process-oriented.”
Pimentel: Densing is ‘a very corrupt person’
Pimentel dared Densing to face the lawmakers he contacted in an executive session, and warned that he could be cited for contempt.
He also called Densing a “pathological liar.”
“What I will do is gather more evidence to prove that what I am saying is true, that Mr. Epimaco Densing is a very corrupt person, he’s a scalawag in public service. He has been asking commissions for the release of funds for the school buildings. I will prove that in the next hearing, I’ll gather more information,” Pimentel said.
“This is what I want to tell you, Mr. Densing: You should no longer return to the government. The government does not need your kind. You are a very corrupt person making your position to your advantage,” he added.
Densing was DepEd undersecretary when Vice President Sara Duterte was heading the agency.
Currently, DepEd’s financial management under Duterte’s term is being scrutinized by the committee due to reports of low budget utilization and other anomalies.
House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe previously said that Duterte may be held liable for graft if she cannot explain how funds were spent, particularly regarding items with adverse findings from the Commission on Audit.
READ: Sara Duterte’s confidential fund spending raises new, more doubts
The Philippines currently faces a huge classroom shortage, with DepEd announcing last March 2024 that Calabarzon Region and the National Capital Region lead the list of areas with a shortage of public school classrooms.
As of that period, DepEd said the estimated total number of classroom shortages in the country is 165,444.
READ: Calabarzon, Metro Manila top classroom shortage list – DepEd