P560M FOR CARS

Cebu City Acting Mayor Margot Osmeña is looking for two more Montero SUVs after only two of the four units were returned. The city-owned vehicles were recalled for inventory. Sitting beside her is GSO assistant department head Ronaldo Malacora. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

In just five years, the Cebu city government under now suspended Mayor Michael Rama has spent a whooping half a billion pesos to buy vehicles, which are now the subject of a recall order by Acting Mayor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña.

But until now, only around half of the 520 service vehicles that have been recorded by the city’s General Services Office (GSO) have been returned to the city. The city spent around P560 million from 2012 to 2016 for these vehicles.

Some of these automobiles are unaccounted for and have no proper documentations, according to the GSO.

Moreover, the city also apparently obtained recently four brand new Mitsubishi Montero Sports vehicles that the GSO had no idea existed and already being used by certain city officials since these were not even paid yet by the city government.

“We were surprised when the two Montero Sports were turned over. I had them checked if they had documents. We found out that they were delivered even before the notice of award and the purchase order were signed by the mayor,” said GSO assistant department head Ronaldo Malacora in a press conference at the South Road Properties (SRP) yesterday, where the vehicles are currently kept.

Only two of the four Montero Sports, which costs P1.4 million each, were turned over. The two remained “unaccounted for.”

On the plates of the two vehicles were the words “For Registration.”

Malacora said the two vehicles were turned over earlier this week and were reportedly being used by Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) head Ester Concha and Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) head Collin Rosell.

He said the vehicles were delivered by the supplier, Fast Autoworld Philippines Corp., even without being paid yet by the city. The total budget for the four sports utility vehicles (SUVs), which was charged to the city’s Peace and Order Program (POP) fund, was P6.2 million.

Sought for comment, Rosell told Cebu Daily News that they got the Montero Sports only last May 5 after it was assigned to them by Councilor Dave Tumulak, who heads the POP Office, while the papers for the vehicles were being processed.

“It wasn’t issued to me personally. It was for the office to use especially since we have a lot of far sites we have to visit,” he said.

When they got the memorandum from Osmeña for the vehicles’ recall, Rosell said he decided to turn over the Montero to the GSO.

He said his office was earlier issued a Toyota Fortuner by the POP but this was taken away and turned over to the city’s police, where it was supposed to have been issued.

CDN tried to contact Concha for her comment but calls to her cellphone number were not answered.

WARNING

Osmeña, for her part, said the Montero supplier should not have delivered the vehicles without proper documentation but did not say whether or not the city would still pay for them.

She said they would still have to find the two “missing” Monteros and decide if the city would still have a need for them before deciding if they should proceed with the payment.

“This is also a warning for suppliers. Everything has to go through the process. Why would they deliver when there are still no documents. Look, it’s still for registration,” noted the acting mayor, who was also present in the press conference held at the ground floor of the Sugbu Building at the SRP, with the two Monteros in the background.

Based on City Hall’s records, Osmeña said the city has spent a total of around P560 million from 2012 until 2016 for the purchase of vehicles alone but this amount might not even be accurate since it only represented that was recorded or actually paid by the city.

Based on GSO’s system records, Malacora said of the 520 service vehicles bought by the city, 320 were assigned to the different city departments while 200 were issued to the barangays. The number did not include the police patrol cars, ambulances and others emergency-use vehicles that the city also paid for.

According to Malacora, some vehicles might no longer be serviceable, which was the reason why an inventory has become a must.

Since the vehicle recall memo was issued last week, 225 vehicles and 83 motorcyles were turned over to the GSO. Out of this number, 52 vehicles had been returned to their respective departments, after Osmeña signed their reissuance orders.

Of the vehicles recalled from the city’s 80 barangays, only 36 were returned to the city.

At least 42 barangay captains, headed by Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Philip Zafra, earlier asked Osmeña to reconsider her recall order, claiming their vehicles are also being used for emergencies.

UNYIELDING

But Osmeña was not budging.

“It’s just for inventory. If they returned it since before, maybe they would have been returned already. Please return it just for inventory. Once they return it, they can ask for the vehicle back. But will the same one be given back to them? Let’s see,” she said.

She lamented the unfair distribution of the vehicles among the barangays. She said one barangay even has seven service vehicles, although she couldn’t remember which barangay it was.

Osmeña cited as an example Barangay Guadalupe, the city’s biggest barangay, which was given a brandnew pick-up. But it wasn’t issued to Barangay Captain Michael Gacasan, a known supporter of Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK). It was given to a barangay councilor instead.

The vehicle assigned to Barangay Talamban was also issued to a Rama-allied barangay councilor instead of the barangay captain, she added.

“How do you determine equality? Why would you give a dump truck to somebody in the mountains? We have to evaluate what’s needed. It will go where it’s supposed to go,” Osmeña said.

Amid the defiance of some barangay captains, Osmeña decided to enter into the city police’s blotter a complaint for malversation of public property against 40 barangay captains who refused to give back the automobiles. She also tasked the City Legal Office to study the cases that could be lodged against the defiant village officials.

Osmeña also issued a separate memorandum cutting in half the fuel allocation for the city-owned vehicles. “Any request for additional fuel allocation shall be made to and subjet to the approval of the Office of the Mayor,” the memo read.

Zafra earlier said the allocation of fuel per barangay varies but the estimate was between 100 to 150 liters a month.