Two L300 vans, one Mitsubishi Adventure and one Strada sports utility vehicle were issued to Councilor Philip Zafra and one of them is parked at the Tisa Elementary School.
Ronald Malacora, special assistant of the General Services Office, said one of the L300 vans is parked at Barangay Tisa while the other van is used in Barangay Adlaon.
Malacora said 33 barangay chairpersons have yet to return their city-issued vehicles.
Zafra, also concurrent Barangay Tisa chairman and Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) representative to the council, said the L300 is parked at the Tisa Elementary School because their barangay has no parking space.
“It has been used as a (rescue vehicle). It is being used by the children. I did not use it for my personal trips,” he said.
He said the Mitsubishi Adventure SUV issued to the previous Tisa barangay chairman and was used by the ABC in traveling from their South Road Properties (SRP) office to Cebu City Hall.
Zafra said the Strada sustained scratches and is being used by barangay tanods for emergency situations.
“Those vehicles came from the previous village chiefs, they are under my name now because I am the current chairman. It doesn’t mean it is only me who used those vehicles. They are also being used by our barangay councilors, treasurer going to City Hall,” Zafra said.
He said basic social services, like health and peace and order, were devolved to the barangays and they need the vehicles to serve other sectors like children, senior citizens and persons with disabilities.
“The barangay officials work 24 hours serving any day at any time unlike in City Hall which is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Then we only received a small honorarium from P7,000 to P8,000 but our responsibility is bigger,” Zafra said.
He also denied allegations that he is goading other Team Rama-aligned barangay chairpersons to ignore the recall order for the city-issued vehicles.
“It’s lamentable because any amount of explanation on my part is open to interpretation. Hopefully we will stick to the issue. Please discern and examine our reasons for refusing to return the vehicles,” Zafra said.