Consistent with her agenda of implementing a transparent and corruption-free leadership of the Department of Education (DepEd), Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones tasked the appropriate offices to promptly look into the alleged free trip to China supposedly given to DepEd inspectors by a bidder.

The Education Chief has already issued a memorandum to DepEd’s Director of Administrative Service Robert Agustin to further shed light on the details of the said trip.

Contrary to reports, the initial result of DepEd’s investigation revealed that the Department itself funded the trip. Being the Procuring Entity, DepEd shouldered the expenses to visit the production site, which was requested by Multifocus Corp. pursuant to the terms and conditions of its contract.

According to Agustin, records show that a duly-authorized trip to China was conducted in February 2016, during the administration of former Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro. The authorized inspectorate team consisted of Agustin, National Science Teaching Instrumentation Center (NSTIC) Dir. Raul La Rosa as the end-user, an engineer, and an architect.