Marcos, Angara start distributing laptops to teachers in Dagupan

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Education Secretary Sonny Angara, joined by First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos, started the nationwide distribution of over 231,000 laptops for public school teachers on Monday, beginning with an initial distribution of 209 Apple MacBook Neo units to 10 public schools in Dagupan City.

Held at the Dagupan City National High School, the ceremonial turnover kicked off the rollout under the Department of Education (DepEd) Computerization Program.

According to a DepEd statement, of the 231,725 laptops awarded so far for teachers, 169,008 are MacBook Neo units, and 62,717 are Windows-based laptops, with an additional 3,646 MacBook Neo devices for administrative officers.

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READ: DepEd saves ₱1.4B in landmark procurement of laptops via open bidding

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Marcos highlighted the impact of the initiative, underscoring the administration’s commitment to empowering educators.

“These laptops will equip our school personnel with the tools that they need to carry out their duties more efficiently,” Marcos said.

Angara emphasized that providing teachers with modern tools and training aims to ease their daily paperwork and let them concentrate on their learners.

“Under the administration of President Bongbong Marcos, we want to give our teachers the best tools and the right training to make it easier for them to make lesson plans or reports, so they can focus on teaching,” Angara said in Filipino.

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Dagupan City National High School received 72 MacBook Neo units, while nine other public elementary, integrated, and secondary schools in the city received the remaining 137 devices. Serving around 5,000 learners with 312 personnel, Dagupan City National High School previously had only four official laptops available for its teachers.

Through competitive public bidding, DepEd acquired the laptops at around P43,000 per unit, well below standard retail prices, saving at least P1.4 billion compared to standard retail prices alone.

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The laptop packages include built-in productivity tools, nationwide delivery, professional training, and an unprecedented five-year extended warranty, bringing the estimated commercial value of each package to over P70,000.

“Because the bidding was open and fair, we not only saved more than ₱1.4 billion for the national coffers, but we were also able to get a five-year warranty that we rarely get in this kind of procurement,” Angara said.

“This proves that a prudent and cost-effective use of government funds is possible without sacrificing the quality for our teachers.”

READ: DepEd: Over 172000 teachers, staff to get Apple laptops

To help educators maximize the new devices in the classroom, DepEd and the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) will roll out GuroXL, a comprehensive training program leading to Apple Teacher Certifications and specialized technology leadership credentials. Suppliers have until March 2027 to complete deliveries to beneficiary schools.

Selection guidelines prioritize schools and teachers yet to receive government-issued laptops, with first priority given to teachers who actively lead educational technology efforts.

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Schools will submit the recipient lists through the Teacher Assignment for Laptop Allocation (TALA) system, a new registration app for device inventory and property management. /atm