THOUGH the Cebu City Police Office were divested of the vehicles issued to them by the city government, the Police Regional Office gave them three new units yesterday.
The three police vehicles were among the 21 Mahindra Scorpio units that were given by Camp Crame to police precincts in Central Visayas.
Two other vehicles were given to the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), one to the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), one to the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LLCPO) and the rest were distributed to national support units.
Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, Police Regional Office chief, said the allocation of the three police vehicles was timely in the wake of the recent recall order issued by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to the sports utility vehicles given to the city police.
“We really need vehicles as we continue our campaign against all forms of criminality, including illegal drugs,” he said.
Taliño reminded the recipients of the new vehicles to take good care of the patrol cars.
“Sana alagaan nila ito (I hope they will take care of them). Now, there’s no reason why they can’t perform their jobs well,” he said.
Senior Supt. Joel Doria, Cebu City police chief, said they will comply with the order.
“We will continue working and do our jobs the best we can. We will make do of what we have,” Doria said.
He said he’s happy that the national government and the Philippine National Police is supportive of the local police.
Doria said he also returned the city-issued firearms that were recalled by the mayor.
Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak called on the executive department to allocate the budget intended for the city police last year.
In yesterday’s press conference, Tumulak said it pains him to see that funds appropriated for the police were in limbo.
“Even though this was appropriated under the 2015 budget this should be implemented this year. It’s for the police for enforcing peace and order which is for the safety of our people,” said Tumulak, who chairs the City Council’s peace and order committee.
Tumulak said the previous council passed and appropriated a budget of P28 million to purchase equipment for police such as firearms, bulletproof vests and trainings.
Tumulak said the mayor cannot realign the budget allocated to the police if there is no approval from the council./USJ-R Intern Dafne N. Wenceslao and Reporter Nestle L. Semilla
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