In a shocking exposé delivered by former Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil Mercado during the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability hearing last September 24, 2024, Mercado divulged that she was forced to resign by Vice President Sara Duterte’s Chief of Staff, Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, after questioning anomalies in the procurement of equipment for the department in 2023.
Mercado, a Marcos-appointee, was the head of the procuring entity of DepEd during her stint with the agency, until she was allegedly forced to resign during a meeting with Lopez at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) office in Mandaluyong. The request was said to come after Mercado insisted that the bidding process for the DepEd’s computerization program should follow the law, opposing the insinuations of former DepEd Assistant Secretary Reynold Munsayac to just discuss among themselves the bidding result.
During the hearing, Mercado also revealed that she was not surprised to be called to the OVP Mandaluyong office, following previous instances where her other colleagues were made to immediately resign for clashing with their agency principal over administrative.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Mercado recounted that she received nine envelopes containing P50,000 in cash each, starting when she was designated as head of DepEd’s procuring entity by Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajardo, which she conceded, may have been meant to influence her decisions connected to her post. Mercado boasts a considerable track record as an educator and a long career in the government service.
More irregularities in policies and practices during Duterte’s time as head of DepEd have come to light in recent weeks in the 2025 budget deliberations of Congress, spurred by her refusal to participate and respond to inquiries on the use, or what some claim to be misuse, of public funds.
The OVP requested for P2 billion for its 2025 budget, which, given recent events, lawmakers have claimed as outrageous and has since been cut down to around P700 million.
The Commission on Audit (COA) released several reports and memoranda, disallowing the use of funds by the OVP and the questionable implementation of its approved budget by the DepEd in 2022 and 2023.
