For official use only, Mayor Rama orders all CH vehicles officially marked

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama ordered to mark “For Official Use Only” all city-owned vehicles, including those recently given to barangay captains, to ensure that government vehicles are not used for personal purposes.

Rama also directed General Services Office chief Rolando Ardoza to ensure that the plate numbers are not tampered with to make it appear that the vehicle is privately owned.

The mayor issued the directive in reaction to a column published in The Freeman yesterday about some barangay officials allegedly using their city government-issued vehicle for personal. Some of these cars have tampered plate numbers.

It was reported that one barangay captain replaced the red plate of the vehicle with a green one to make it appear that he privately owned the vehicle. Some vehicles also did not have the “for Official Use Only” marking which is required by the Commission on Audit.

Private vehicles bear green plate numbers while red for government-owned vehicles with “S” for the first letter of the prefix before the numbers.

Rama ordered Ardoza not to give fuel allocation to vehicles that do not have “FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY” markings and those with tampered license plates.

The mayor also asked the traffic authorities to apprehend the drivers of the city-owned vehicles violating his directive.

Under the rules of COA all government-owned vehicles should be marked with FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY on its sides. The markings should be three inches in width otherwise these vehicles shall not be entitled to fuel allocation from the government.—(FREEMAN)