Police/Senior Supt. Renato Dugan, PRO-7 PIO and Human Resource personnel, inspects the 21 brand-new Mahindra Scorpio police vehicles at Camp Sergio Osmeña, Sr. in this July 22, 2016, file photo.
OF the 160 Mahindra police cars in Central Visayas, at least 25 are no longer usable.
This was revealed by Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, director of Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7).
Sinas said that even some of the remaining 135 Mahindra cars are already defective.
“Most common defects were air-conditioning, brakes, transmission among others,” said Sinas.
He added that the 25 dysfunctional cars are already beyond repair.
Despite this handicap however, Sinas said that his men can still operate effectively and conduct patrols on a daily basis.
“But karon among Mahindra cars dili nana namo ipaadto og lagyo. Mga specific patrols lang ug dili na pagukuron,” said Sinas.
(But right now these Mahindra cars are no longer for long travels. They are used only for specific patrols and not to chase criminals)
The Mahindra cars, Sinas said, were distributed to PRO-7 right after the elections of 2016.
The PRO-7 conducted an inventory of the police cars after the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the PNP for purchasing over 2,000 units of Mahindra patrol cars worth P1.8 billion despite its findings that they are deemed unfit for police operations.
COA said in its 2017 report, that Mahindra vehicles “pushed back the full attainment” of police operations because the patrol jeeps broke down frequently.
The state audit agency also said no performance evaluation was conducted for 1,656 Mahindra vehicles before purchasing an additional 206 units.
Sinas said that regional offices don’t have any hand in the purchase since they are only recipients of said cars. He added that only Camp Crame has the authority to purchase the cars.
“Ako personally, ever since (I entered the service) Toyota, Mitsubishi ang mga sakyanan. Karon lang ning Mahindra,” said Sinas.
(Ever since I entered the service, we only used Toyota and Mitsubishi. It was just last 2016 that we had these Mahindra cars)
“As to its effectivity, dili nalang ko mag comment (I will not give any comment),” added Sinas.