Agnes: Manila paper to cover Gwen notebooks

Will thousands of notebooks bearing the smiling image of suspended Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia reach school kids in time for the opening of classes?

Acting Cebu Gov. Agnes Magpale said the school supplies will be distributed but “the notebook’s front cover will be wrapped with manila paper.”

Auditors earlier questioned the presence of P19 milllion worth of idle school supplies found in a bodega of the Capitol and reminded officials that displaying names and faces of government officials on public property was illegal.

The audit memo in March said the supplies were not distributed to pupils as intended in the previous school year 2012-2013 which was a “pecuniary loss to the government.”

Magpale said the provincial government will coordinate with towns and cities where the supplies will be given.

“We want to talk to the local chief executives and ask them take to care of providing the covers,” she told reporters yesterday.

The notebooks, school bags, pencils, cardboard fans, and posters were still piled in a warehouse in the Capitol when Cebu Daily News visited yesterday,

The warehouse also contained boxes of canned goods, noodles and other food supplies.

As for the fate of blue and yellow school bags branded GWEN for Government Working for Educational Needs, Magpale has yet to decide.

The items are gathering dust in the warehouse.

Magpale found out about the supplies after receiving last March an audit observation memo from the Commission on Audit.

COA said that “unless the names and images printed on the kits are removed, these cannot be distributed to the intended end-users.”

Magpale said they were supposed to tear off the front covers but said this would partially damage the notebooks.

“Pero mao lagi, daghan kaayo (But that’s why, there are just too many),” she said.

Under a circular of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the use of faces and names of public officials on government property is banned.

The supplies were purchased for P19,358,859.

A proposal to ask the supplier to print new covers was also explored.

Winning bidders were Crismark General Merchandise for the school bags worth P4,554,060 and Prince Warehouse Club Inc for the other supplies like notebooks, pencils, paper, erasers, rulers , class records and lesson plans for a contract price of P22,050,747.

Payables

Magpale said she’s being careful in handling the notebooks and all Capitol payables.

“We’re consulting lawyers in every step because we might get reprimanded over the Anti-Epal rule,” she said.

Magpale was elected vice governor in the May 13 election. Garcia was elected representative of Cebu’s 3rd district. She is still serving a six-month suspension that ends on June 18.