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BY MAE SINGUAY
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BACOLOD City – Citing procurement issues, city hall recalled the 10 patrol cars it turned over to the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) in June.
The local government has not yet paid for them, officials revealed.
Now it is facing a problem: It cannot use the fund that the previous administration allocated to pay for the vehicles.
The BCPO under Senior Superintendent Flynn Dongbo turned over the vehicles to the city government on Monday, Dec. 12.
On Dec. 9, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) head Aaron Bais wrote General Services Office head Jerome Solinap, saying Executive Assistant Joemarie Vargas, head of the Cluster on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, advised him to “take custody” of the vehicles for “inspection before payment.”
Worth a total of P8.497 million, the brand-new Mitsubishi L300s had LED blinkers, sirens and CDRRMO logos.
Bais asked Solinap to retrieve them from the BCPO and have them parked at the Bacolod City Government Center (city hall). On the same day, Solinap wrote Dongbo, requesting for a turnover by Monday.
But upon the advice of Mayor Evelio Leonardia, the patrol vehicles were returned to the BCPO as soon as personnel from the City Legal Office (CLO) finished inspecting them, Vargas confirmed.
He said the mayor did not want to hamper police operations while the city government settles the issue with the supplier, Fast Auto World Phils. Corp., a company based in Sibulan, Negros Oriental.
The Puentevella administration allocated a portion of the calamity fund under the CDRRMO for the purchase of the vehicles, but the fund cannot be used for non-disaster management-related activities, Vargas said.
The contractor is now asking for payment, and the CLO was tasked to find means for city hall to pay its dues, he said.
Technically, the local government owns the vehicles, not the BCPO, Solinap said. In fact, he said, the vehicles were just “lent” to the police.
If the city government must donate the vehicles to the police, it must seek approval from the Sangguniang Panlungsod first, Vargas said.
“We are trying to correct the mistakes of the past administration,” he said. “We do not want that the present administration to shoulder its mistakes.”
Any purchase using the calamity fund must have the approval of the local disaster management council and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, said Vargas./PN
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