MANILA, Philippines — A former Department of Education (DepEd) undersecretary on Wednesday, September 25, said that she and other employees had received monthly envelopes containing P50,000 in cash for nine months under Vice President Sara Duterte’s tenure as DepEd secretary.
Former DepEd Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil Mercado revealed this at the House good governance committee’s second inquiry on DepEd’s alleged misuse of public funds.
In her sworn statement, Mercado said that Vice President’s head executive assistant Sunshine Fajarda had handed her one envelope for each month from February to September 2023 labeled “HoPE,” which meant Head of Procuring Entity.
Every time, Fajarda would tell her, “Galing kay VP (It came from the vice president).”
Mercado served as DepEd’s procurement head and human resources head at the same time in 2023. She told lawmakers that she never opened the envelopes, leaving them inside a pouch at her office.
It was only when she left the agency for “voluntary retirement” in late October 2023 that she discovered the envelopes contained P50,000 each.
For nine envelopes, this amounted to a total of P450,000, which she donated to a non-government organization upon the advice of others.
Mercado confirmed to lawmakers that the envelope could have been “a means to influence her decision” as the head of DepEd’s procurement.
DepEd’s bidding issues
Why did she retire? Mercado’s retirement was not planned. She was ordered to resign, but she refused.
When DepEd’s Computerization Program almost experienced a bidding failure in October 2023, Procurement Assistant Secretary Reynold Munsayac suggested that bidders should just discuss among themselves, so that the 2022 funds will not go to waste.
What is a bidding failure? A bidding failure occurs when the procurement process for a project is unsuccessful. This can happen if no bidders participate or if the submitted bids fail to meet the necessary criteria.
In DepEd’s case, the 2022 budget for the Computerization Program was about to lapse by the end of 2023 due to the disqualification of nearly all bidders.
RELATED: Lawmakers find DepEd slow to spend on tech needs, fast with confidential funds
Mercado opposed Munsayac’s suggestion, saying that she “firmly asserted that the procurement must be implemented and conducted in strict adherence to the rules.”
Is it illegal for bidders to talk to each other? According to Section 65 of the Republic Act 9184 or Government Procurement Reform Act, bidders will be penalized for colluding with each other or with procurement officials, as this manipulates the bidding process. Examples of such collusion include conspiring to suppress bids or inflate prices.
In the third or fourth week of October, Mercado said she was ordered to resign by Duterte’s chief of staff Zuleika Lopez.
“I was summoned by Zuleika Lopez, the chief of staff of Vice President Duterte and undersecretary at the Office of the Vice President, I was informed that I should tender my resignation effective that day,” Mercado said.
She, however, refused to resign and decided to enter retirement voluntarily instead.
Mercado said that Zuleika’s order to resign “struck her as more than coincidental” because it seemed as if her “candid response” to Munsayac’s suggestion “was the real reason” that pushed her to leave the agency.
“It was as if I had become an unwelcome obstacle in the procurement process, despite simply doing my job as the HoPe and undersecretary for Human Resources of DepEd,” she added.
Upon her retirement, Mercado faced accusations that she left because she "favored certain suppliers," a claim she denied.
Munsayac denies allegations. According to Munsayac, he did not say that bidders should discuss among themselves. He said he only recommended rebidding so that the 2022 funds could still be utilized for the Computerization Program.
“Kung itutuloy niyo yung post qualification at maglalapse ‘yan, hindi na aabot yan sa December 2023. Magdecide na kayo kung irerebid niyo na ‘yan. Hindi masasayang ‘yung pondo, mau-utilize pa bago mag-end ang 2023,” Munsayac said, denying the Mercado’s claim.
(If you proceed with the post-qualification and it lapses, it won’t make it by December 2023. Decide now if you're going to rebid it. The funds won’t go to waste. They can still be utilized before the end of 2023.)
Other DepEd officials also received cash
According to Mercado, DepEd’s special disbursement officer Edward Fajarda, Sunshine’s husband, had once inquired about the bank accounts of several individuals in their office.
“A member of my staff informed me that an inquiry was made by one of our officers in the field that Mr. Fajarda had made inquiries about the bank accounts of several individuals, and if divulging such information to Mr. Fajarda was permitted,” she said.
Mercado found out that the inquiry came from the Office of the Secretary, or Duterte, during her time as DepEd secretary.
After Edward asked one of Mercado’s field officers about the bank accounts, she said that other DepEd officials began receiving “sums on top of their regular salaries.”
“Evidently, it would appear that Regional Directors and other employees on the field would also receive sums on top of their regular salaries,” Mercado said.
Mercado, as DepEd’s procurement head, was one of the signatories of the agency’s checking account. So, she said she had signed three checks amounting to P37.5 million of confidential funds each.
Duterte did not attend the inquiry's second hearing, saying in a letter that it is based on "unsubstantiated allegations."
'She's a disgruntled employee'
On Wednesday afternoon, Duterte dismissed Mercado's allegation that she was made to resign after a botched attempt to rig the bidding of DepEd's computerization program.
The vice president said Mercado should have presented hard documents to substantiate her claims against her.
She also called her former subordinate a "disgruntled employee" who could not accept that she was pressured to leave DepEd "because of loss and trust and confidence."
Duterte said Mercado was let go after "two strikes."
First, Duterte claimed Mercado had allegedly solicited P16 million from two companies without DepEd's authorization. The funds were used for DepEd’s General User Response Optimization (DepEd-GURO) program, according to a letter Mercado signed in October 2023.
Second, the vice president alleged that Mercado facilitated the appointment of a teacher to an executive assistant position at DepEd's central office — a designation that Duterte said was flagged by teachers from Region 7.
Duterte also shared a personal account and recalled a time when the former undersecretary for human resources supposedly caused division within the department by disparaging an undersecretary and an assistant secretary during a one-on-one session with her.
When asked to comment on Mercado's allegation that Munsayac offered to negotiate with bidders behind closed doors, Duterte said: "Ngayon ko lang narinig 'yan (That's my first time hearing that)."
Duterte's press conference at Mandaluyong City was held while the House committee hearing was ongoing, which prompted House members to inform Mercado of Duterte's allegations minutes after she made her statements.
Upon hearing Duterte's allegations against her, Mercado took her pouch with the envelopes and dumped its contents on the table in front of the lawmakers. "I don't want to do this but since she said so, I will turn over these envelopes where the money was. The amount is there," she added.
"Kasi ang sakit naman noon. Ordinaryo lang akong trabahante tapos inaano ka ng vice president diba? (That's painful. I'm an ordinary worker who's being targeted by the vice president). It's very painful," Mercado said.
She also denied having solicited from companies and explained that she did not solicit any funds personally and clarified that it was the external partnerships that sought equipment donations, not money, from the private sector.
Mercado mentioned that the corporations were willing to provide affidavits to confirm that there was no solicitation of P16 million in cash. — with a report by Cristina Chi