DepEd belies ‘anomaly’ in anti-lice shampoo procurement

By Jason Faustino

10/25/2009

The Department of Education (DepEd) on the weekend belied reports of an anomaly in its procurement of lice-removing shampoo for grade school pupils, saying the “cheaper brands” being espoused by certain groups actually pose a threat to the students’ health.

In the same light, Education Undersecretary Franklin Sunga confirmed that winning noodles bidder Jeverps Manufacturing Corp. (JMC) has filed a motion with them, asking the agency to continue with the procurement of the project.

Sunga said that there is a motion filed by JMC with them.

He admitted though that they had asked the opinion of the Department of Justice (DoJ) on the matter.

“There is a motion for reconsideration filed by the winning bidder. We asked the DoJ for an opinion on this,” he said.

The DepEd has suspended the purchase of the instant noodles for its school feeding program after their price and alleged lack of nutritional value were questioned.

In a hearing, the Senate found out that in the past five years, one company, JMC, had consistently bagged the contract to supply the controversial “egg-fortified” noodles.

JMC was awarded six projects under the DepEd feeding program for the last five years, acquiring a total payment of P750 million.

During the last Senate hearing, then Education Undersecretary Ted Sangil said the noodles had been tested by experts of the Bureau of Food and Drugs and was confirmed to contain vitamins and minerals.

Sangil said the cost of commercial noodles was P8 to P9 for a 45-gram to 55-gram packet. The noodles that the DepEd serves the students cost P17.86 for a 100-gram packet, which is good for two servings, he noted.

On the issue of the lice-removing shampoo, Sunga said its contract was made to undergo proper bidding.

He claimed that the other brand of noodles being endorsed by critics of the project and which is said to be cheaper, is actually harmful to the children.

“There are a lot of side effects found in the product (Pyrothrin) and it poses a threat to the students. So we choose Citronella. It is cheaper, but Pyrothrin is deadlier,” he said.

A party-list lawmaker has questioned the DepEd’s purchase of lice-removing shampoo for students, saying the chosen products were more expensive than other noodle brands available in the market.

Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino has filed a resolution in the House of Representatives calling for an investigation into the DepEd’s procurement of Citronella shampoo and otoscopes, medical devices used to examine the ears.

Palatino alleged that the DepEd bought the Citronella shampoo at bulk for P90,000, or at P12 per 10 milliliters. Meanwhile, he said another lice-removing shampoo brand, Licealize, costs only P9.92 in supermarkets.

Pediculosis, or the problem of being infested with lice, especially of the genus Pediculus, is the second most common ailment among public schoolchildren aged 7 to 12 years, next only to dental caries, according to the DepEd.

Nearly 8 million young public schoolchildren were afflicted with pediculosis, according to data from the DepEd Health and Nutrition Center.

Sunga said lice problems need special attention as students afflicted by it have been found to have difficulty learning lessons in school.

At the same time, Palatino questioned the DepEd’s costly purchase of otoscopes, which the agency procured in bulk for P1 million at P13,333 per set. He said similar items were worth only P120 to P135 in the market.

Otoscopes are instruments with lighting and magnifying systems used to facilitate visual examination of the auditory canal and the eardrum.

The otoscopes may be aimed at addressing impacted cerumen, or the hardened yellowish substance inside the ear. Impacted cerumen, known in colloquial language as too much tutuli, is the seventh leading ailment among grade school students, according to a DepEd study in 1999.

The problem causes teachers to get the wrong impression that the children are not listening or that they are deaf because they don’t easily pick up what the teacher is saying.

Palatino moreover criticized the DepEd for also procuring P5 million worth of ferrous sulfate tablets, P1.8 million worth of dental anesthetics and P1.3 million worth of disposable dental needles.

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