An Education department undersecretary during Sara Duterte-Carpio’s time as its head revealed last week that she was forced to resign after refusing to accept bribes from the Secretary herself.
Former undersecretary Gloria Mercado testified that she was asked to resign from DepEd because she was not willing to skirt procurement guidelines.
Mercado’s revelation was the latest that appeared to indicate serious mismanagement on the part of Duterte-Carpio, whose time at the department was marred by underutilization of its budget as well as misuse of funds.
But it was Mercado’s claim that the office of Duterte-Carpio regularly sent her envelopes containing PHP50,000 (about US$ 877) every month when she was head of the department’s procurement section that put a spotlight on the case.
Testifying before the House committee on Good Government last week, Mercado said she received the envelopes every month for nine months. She said she never opened the envelopes but gave the contents to a non-government organization after she was forced out of DepEd in October 2023.
Mercado told the House that she believed she was forced out because of her unwillingness to go around procurement guidelines.
Duterte-Carpio, however, gave another reason why Mercado was “let go.”
Duterte-Carpio accused Mercado of soliciting donations from the private sector using her name without consent.
Mercado was able to collect some PHP16 million from her unauthorized activity, said the former Education secretary and concurrent vice-president.
Mercado, said Duterte-Carpio, was a “disgruntled former employee of the Department of Education. She was let go because of loss of trust of the Office of the Secretary.”
Mercado, however, stood by her claim, saying she received a total of nine envelopes.
“Those envelopes were handed to me monthly by Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajarda, which she says came directly from the office of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio.”
When asked by Rep. Gerville Luistro if the envelopes were meant to influence her procurement decisions, Mercado said, “Could be.”
Receiving the envelopes “was very uncomfortable on my part,” said the former undersecretary.
She said: “I have to protect my name. I was a scholar from Grade one until I took my PhD.”
She told the House body that during her tenure with DepEd, she found out that Fajarda’s husband Edward – a special disbursement officer – asked about bank accounts of several individuals in field offices. This was done upon Duterte-Carpio’s instructions, she said.
“Evidently, it would appear that regional directors and other employees on the field would also receive sums on top of their regular salaries,” said Mercado, who then alleged that there were bidding irregularities during Duterte-Carpio’s time as DepEd head.
Mercado surmised that she was forced to resign “despite simply doing my job.”
Earlier last month, lawmakers sought to compel the Education department to release all bidding documents relative to its computerization program in 2022 and 2023, when the agency was under Duterte-Carpio.
Among other findings, the House determined that Duterte-Carpio had barely utilized her budget to construct new school buildings, using only some 10 percent of her budget.
