City Hall: No personal use of city-owned vehicles

NO barangay official in Cebu City is allowed to use city government-issued vehicles even if they paid for the gasoline, City Hall’s General Services Office (GSO) said yesterday.

“You need to secure special authority when you use vehicles just like when people use the city’s Kaohsiung buses, they need the mayor’s approval. Since it’s a red plate vehicle, it should only be used for official business purposes even if you used your own money to buy gasoline,” GSO head Engr. Dionisio Gualiza said.

Trip tickets should also be recorded and secured by barangay chairpersons with city-owned vehicles issued to them and these should be submitted to GSO, he added.

Gualiza said they cannot initiate their own investigation on reports that  Carreta barangay chairman Eduardo Lauron used a city-owned Toyota Hilux for a family beach outing in Marigondon, Lapu-Lapu City last Easter Sunday.

But he said their office will provide documents to any agency that will investigate the incident.

Circumspect

“In our previous experience, it is usually the Ombudsman that investigates these kinds of cases. We give them the documents like a memorandum receipt as to whom the vehicles were issued as well as trip tickets they submit to our office,” Gualiza said.

Lauron earlier admitted to using the vehicle bearing plate number SKV 310 but said it’s not irregular because he used it for his grandson’s birthday party.

READ: Why use Cebu city government vehicle for beach outing in Mactan?

He said he even used his own money to pay for gasoline.

Councilor and Association of Barangay Council (ABC) Cebu City chapter president Phillip Zafra reminded barangay officials to be “circumspect” in using government issued vehicles.

“We all know the limits of our use of the vehicles assigned to us by the government. I’m calling all barangay officials to be circumspect and make sure that when we use these vehicles, it’s really for official business,” he said.

Zafra said he will still speak with Lauron on the incident. The Ombudsman-Visayas already said they will look into the incident. Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he won’t comment on the case anymore and reiterated that Lauron should not do it again.

Under Commission on Audit Circular No. 75-6, government officials are reminded not to use government vehicles for personal purposes to go to places like markets, restaurants, hotels, resorts or other places.