City depot's fuel supply safe - mayor

CEBU, Philippines - Total Philippines will continue supplying fuel to the city after City Hall settled its obligation to the fuel company, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said yesterday. 

Osmeña yesterday clarified that the city does not have monetary problems and the delay of payment to Total was reportedly due to the bureaucratic red tape and pre-audit requirement.

“Wa man tay problema sa kwarta. Kini lang bag-o nga sistema ba nga kinahanglang dunay pre-audit ana ba maong na-delay atong bayad,” the mayor said.

Total Philippines, the city’s fuel supplier, threatened to stop delivering diesel and gasoline to the city’s depot if the city government could not pay its depot bills amounting to P16 million.

Osmeña said Total restored the supply of fuel and no basic services were affected. 

Reports had it that some police investigators in the city chipped in their personal money to buy fuel for their patrol car. This after the depot turned away several government vehicles the other day because there was no diesel or gasoline to distribute.

Councilor Augustus Pe Jr., chairman of the City Council committee on public order and safety, described the issue as “an exaggeration.”

“Naay mga instances kaniadto nga lima ka adlaw silang dili katobil kay dili dayon maka-liquidate… ingon ana ba there was no issue… and suddenly, usa ka adlaw lang nga wa sila ka tobil nahimong issue…to me, it’s an exaggeration,” Pe said.

City Police Director Patrocinio Comendador, meanwhile, blamed his men for not telling their superiors about the problem.

Comendador said the city police have a fuel allocation from the PNP every month and policemen in the city can reportedly avail of it anytime.

“Ila lang siguro nga gi-solve ang problema sa ilang level without bringing it up to their superior or even informing me,” Comendador said.

To prevent the same problem from recurring, the city made a special arrangement with the Commission on Audit to exempt fuel deliveries from pre-audit rules.

Under the arrangement, a state auditor must be present in each fuel delivery to verify the right amount and quality being delivered by the supplier.

Pe said the city finds it difficult to meet the pre-audit requirement on fuel deliveries, considering that the supplier delivers the fuel after office hours.

Just a few months ago, the City Council approved the resolution for the conduct of a pre-audit on City Hall transactions. The resolution was authored by Councilor Edgardo Labella, chairman of the Council’s committee on laws.

The move was made to avoid disallowances and other problems that the city had experienced during post-audit.

Nevertheless, Pe clarified that the resolution only covers specific items and that supplies that can hamper the delivery of basic services should be exempted. — Elly Bolonos and Gabriel C. Bonjoc/JMO  (THE FREEMAN)