Selective recall order

At the rate he’s going Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is taking everything but the kitchen sink for inventory in his recall orders to barangay officials and the Cebu City Police Office.

The latest recall order involves firearms issued to the Cebu City Police Office, the mini-buses and the ambulances to all the barangays in Cebu City. Unlike the cash aid, in which Mayor Osmeña specifically targeted Team Rama-allied officials and favored barangay officials allied with the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK), the mayor was careful to state that the recall order for buses and ambulances covered every barangay.

And unlike the reimbursement of the cash aid which is justified by a Commission on Audit order questioning the sourcing of the city’s cash aid to barangays from the city’s maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) instead of personal services and the firearms which the mayor can rationalize by saying he wants to know if the firearms are still used by city-based police officers, the recall of ambulances and mini-buses back to City Hall is going too far.

In recalling these vehicles, Osmeña said he wants the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF) to evaluate the condition of these ambulances, adding that a lot of personnel using the vehicles don’t even have paramedical training.

But is it too expensive for Cebu City Hall to just send the ERUF team to the barangays to not only evaluate the ambulances and the qualifications of the personnel using it but also to provide training to these officials?

And exactly how fast and accurate can the ERUF assess the condition of the ambulances and personnel once the vehicles are recalled for inventory? If emergencies arise during the inventory, could the barangays use the vehicles or have to rely on other agencies to fetch patients from the mountain or upland areas?

The same goes for mini-buses which are more serviceable to the barangays than the sports utility vehicles (SUV) issued to the barangay chiefs by former mayor Michael Rama. In justifying the recall order of the service vehicles, former acting mayor and Councilor Margot Osmeña said the barangays can always tap on the existing Cebu City Hall departments and agencies to service their constituents.

But again to point out the obvious, ambulances and mini-buses aren’t luxury vehicles that are used only for a barangay official’s “official business” and are actually serviceable. Can City Hall’s departments and agencies serve all 80-plus barangays in the city without stretching their limits?

Barangay officials have signified their opposition to the mayor’s recall order but they would be more justified to question and oppose the recall of ambulances and mini-buses to the Ombudsman rather than the cash aid which benefits only the pockets of the barangay officials and not their constituents.

All barangays need essential, multi-purpose vehicles like ambulances and mini-buses to service their residents during emergencies. If the vehicles were recalled, can the mayor assure the immediate inventory and return of the vehicles to all the barangays regardless of their officials’ political affiliation?

Otherwise, the mayor’s recall order would continually be questioned not only by his critics and political rivals but also by city residents, who wonder why everything has to shipped back to City Hall for inspection and then kept in storage for distribution to those recipients the mayor deems deserving — like say, his political allies.