Sticker-less City Hall cars seized from brgy officials

About five city government issued service vehicles were confiscated by the General Services Office (GSO) of Cebu City Hall for having no proper markings yesterday.

GSO chief Engr. Rolando Ardosa declined to identify which barangays used these vehicles.

He said the vehicles were seized after the barangay officials availed of free gasoline from the City Hall fuel depot at the South Road Properties (SRP).

City Hall’s monitoring of service vehicles came in the wake of Mabini barangay captain Rey Oybenes’s death inside his City Hall issued Toyota Hi-lux vehicle last May 23.

Hours before his death, Oybenes was spotted using the service vehicle in allegedly dumping a woman’s remains in a ravine along the transcentral highway in Balamban town. The Toyota Hi-lux is still in police custody.

Mabini barangay councilor Magario Siroy was sworn in by Mayor Michael Rama as the new barangay captain last Wednesday.

Siroy said they will still use the service vehicle. “The vehicle is very useful for the barangay,” he said.

Ardosa said barangay officials should have government stickers pasted to their service vehicles.

Non compliance will result in the confiscation of the vehicles, Ardosa said.

The Cebu City government allocated P100 million last year to buy brand new vehicles for the city’s 80 barangays.

Most, if not all the barangay captains already received their share of vehicles which consisted of brand new Toyota Hilux, Toyota Innova, Mitsubishi Strada and Mitsubishi Fuzion units.

The city government is also giving barangay officials 100 to 150 liters of gasoline per month for the service vehicles.

Ardosa said the local media and the public should report the misuse of these vehicles by barangay officials. He said he can be contacted in his GSO office through telephone number 412-1692. Correspondent Jose Santino Bunachita