DepEd lifts ban on purchases

THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) has lifted a three-year-old moratorium on the purchase of supplementary reading materials, reference books and other instructional publications for public schools nationwide.

In an order, the DepEd also gave school officials the green light to request for the acquisition of supplementary reading and reference materials from a selection of more than 900 approved books for the preschool to high school levels.

But the agency stressed the procurement must be guided by procedures enumerated in an order dated June 30 and signed by former Education Secretary Armin Luistro in one of his final acts of office.

The order gives the acquisition period up to Dec. 31 this year, when the DepEd would come out with new guidelines and a new list of materials for procurement.

In September 2013, Luistro stopped the purchase of these materials to review if they were needed in the first place, and whether they were reasonably priced and purchased through proper public bidding. Jocelyn R. Uy and Jeanette I. Andrade