Unused Gwen school supplies in warehouses

Stacks of notebooks, school bags, pencils, cardboard fans, and posters,  are piled high in a warehouse in the Provincial Capitol.
Almost alll items feature the smiling face of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.
Auditors wrote Acting Cebu Gov. Agnes Magpale  saying the idle supplies worth P19,358,859 never reached public school students for school year 2012-2013.
And because of a circular that bans using the name and face of public officials on government property, the supplies can’t be distributed this way either.
Magpale called the purchase  a “waste of government funds”.
“We didn’t know that we had these  in our bodega. There was no formal turnover when I assumed office (in December 2012). We have to trace this. That was why I asked the Provincial General Services Office to conduct an inventory,” she said.
Magpale said she earlier discovered that several supplies were kept at the Capitol warehouse and the Cebu International Convention Center in Mandaue City.
“We can’t distribute it now. I may become the accomplice (of a crime). We have nothing to do with this,” Magpale said.
Last week, a metal engraver submitted a purchase order seeking to collect P520,000 for an order of 2,600 “Award of Excellence” silver and brass medals for provincial scholars. The medals bear the 3D image of Garcia’s profile in front.
Magpale, who said she may have to pay up, yesterday said there’s no way now that she would allow the province to pay for teh medals because of the Commission on Audit (COA)’s notice to her about the school supplies bearing Garcia’s face.
Tthe March 7 COA audit observation memorandum called her attention to “deficiencies” in vouchers for the procurement of school bags, kits, class records and lesson plans for distribution to pupils, students and teachers in the Province of Cebu.
They noted violations in the procurement, delay in delivery, undistributed supplies and the appearance of “ names and faces of elective officials of the Cebu provincial government.”
One sample notebook shown to CDN had the picture of Garcia in front and the faces of members of the Provincial Board led by then Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanche Jr.
The COA cited a2010 memorandum circular of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) which prohibits the use of names or images of government officials in billboards, signages or government properties.
“There is a probability that the school items cannot be distributed at all causing pecuniary loss to the government,” said the report of Audit Team Leader Eva Cabrera and Supervising Auditor Charlito Leopoldo, who asked the acting governor to file her comments within five days.
Magpale told CDN there were suggestions to just cut out the front cover of the notebooks where the face of Garcia appears.
“As to the notebooks, we can distribute them minus the cover. I don’t know about the bags because the name of Gwen is printed on themt,” she said.
When Cebu Daily News visited the warehouse inside the Capitol compound yesterday,there were several stacks of of notebooks bearing Garcia’s face on the front coverar.
Each “kit” had three notebooks with a pad of paper and a pencil in an envelope. The bundles were tied up.
Blue bags with the name Gwen Garcia were also placed atop sacks in the warehouse as well as packs of posters and fans with Garcia’s image.
According to the caretakers, some weighing scales also seen there are supposed to be distributed to Cebu’s 3rd district.
In its March 7 letter, COA told Magpale that they audited the disbursement vouchers for the procurement of school bags, kits, class records and lesson plans for the pupils, students, and teachers of public schools in Cebu worth P26 million.
Out of 866,410 items procured, there were undistributed and still in the bodega 614,860 sets worth P18.8 million as of Oct. 31, 2012.
The supplies were intended for puipls in schoolyear 2012-2013.
Winning bidders were Crismark General Merchandise for the school bags at P29.27 each for a contract price of P4,554,060 and Prince Warehouse Club Inc for the supply and delivery of various supplies like notebooks, pencils, paper, erasers, rulers , class records and lesson plans for a contract price of P22,050,747.
Auditors found additional school items undelivered for a total value of P19,358,859 that never reached their end-users.
“This violates laws governing the procurement process as mandated by Republic Act 9184 (The Government Procurement Reform Act) thus defeating the purpose of helping the end-users in their educational needs…,” the COA said.
“Unless the names and images printed on the kits are removed, these canmnot be distributed to the intended end-users,” the state auditors said.
COA recommended that the province find ways “to make best use of the items” so as not to violate government circulars. Auditors didn’t say exactly how, leaving it up to the acting governor to decide.
the COA also recommended to hold liable the officials responsible for the “amount of damage that the Provincial government will sustain” if the items can’t be distributed becasuse of the violations.