PB dad in hot water for ‘misusing’ service car

A PROVINCIAL Board (PB) member was spotted allegedly parking his service vehicle at one of the restaurants in Cebu City’s I.T. Park at 7:30 p.m last Monday.

A source, who requested anonymity and filed a written complaint on the incident before the Ombudsman-Visayas last week, said he spotted the Toyota Hilux with red plate number SHT-398 parked near a restaurant in the Walk of the Cebu IT park. The vehicle was issued to PB Member Jude Thaddeus Durano-Sybico.

“What would a government vehicle be doing in IT Park? There was even no sticker which indicates that it is for official use only,” the source said.

Sybico confirmed the report and said he merely brought his guest officials from a town in Cebu’s 5th district to a dinner meeting in a restaurant at The Walk.

The board member said it was “purely incidental” that he brought the vehicle to a restaurant beyond office hours.

“Our work is not a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job. I think we are also entitled to use the car,” Sybico said in a phone interview.

Official functions

Eva Encabo, Provincial General Services Office (PGSO) chief, said Capitol officials who were issued service vehicles should furnish trip tickets validating the nature of their trip.

Encabo said Capitol officials especially PB members bring the vehicles with them to their respective districts.

“Their official functions are not limited inside the Capitol compound. Most of the time they travel to barangays,” she said.

The source said he was jogging in the area when he chanced upon the red-plated vehicle parked near a pizza food chain in I.T. Park.

He said the vehicle sported pitch black tinted windows and the driver kept the  vehicle’s engine running.

The source then approached the vehicle, knocked on one of its closed windows and asked if the driver had a trip ticket.

But the driver ignored him and moved to an area near The Walk.

Sybico explained that he was with a female staff member and his daughter at the time.

Sybico said his daughter rides with him in his service vehicle in going home to Danao City, a one-and-a-half hour, 33-kilometer ride from Cebu City.

Sybico said he refused to roll down the windows because the source didn’t identify himself.  Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos