CEBU CITY – Government-owned school supplies and history books that were supposed to be distributed for free to students were found to have been sold in a junk shop.
The 800 sets of school supplies and 100 history books worth P34,000 were sold allegedly by an employee of the Cebu provincial government, said Bernard Calderon, head of the Provincial General Services Office (PGSO).
The name of the employee is being withheld while the matter is still being investigated by the Capitol’s Committee on Discipline and Investigation (CODI).
Calderon said a concerned citizen tipped them off that Capitol-owned school supplies were sold in a junk shop in Barangay Canduman, Mandaue City.
Investigation showed that the Capitol employee earned P4,000 after selling the items for R1 per kilo.
Calderon said the employee, who has been working in the Capitol for about 30 years, admitted selling the school supplies after he was instructed to clear the warehouse where the items were stored.
Each set of school supplies placed inside a plastic envelope consisted of one notebook, one pad paper, and a pencil.
There were sets of school supplies for Grade 3 pupils and separate sets for Grade 4 pupils. They were supposed to be distributed when classes started last June.
The province’s Local School Board was funded P14.9 million for the procurement of the school supplies.
The books detailing the history of every town in Cebu were printed during the previous term of Gov. Gwen Garcia. (Calvin Cordova)
