Alleged use of truck for political campaign: Mayor Garcia keeps hands off

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Raymond Garcia is keeping his hands off on the issue of the use of a barangay-owned dump truck to transport campaign materials for their political party, Kusug-Panaghiusa.

The issue surfaced after The Freeman published a story showing a dump truck bearing the seal of Cebu City and the name of Barangay Sambag 1 carrying campaign materials for Garcia’s party outside the barangay.

City Councilor Jerry Guardo, a member of Kusug-Panaghiusa, who was allegedly supervising the mounting of the party’s posters and billboards, denied the claims.

He stated that he had rented a vehicle specifically for this purpose.

Sambag 1 Barangay Captain Ailein Guardo, the councilor’s wife and a candidate for the City Council, also denied any knowledge of the matter.

For his part, Mayor Garcia said he was unaware of the situation, clarifying that the vehicle in question is not owned by the city government but by Barangay Sambag 1.

“Dili gyud ko aware, because that is Barangay Sambag 1, ilaha nana,” Garcia said.

Garcia acknowledged that the use of government-owned property, such as vehicles, for private or personal purposes is prohibited. However, he pointed out that barangays operate under different dynamics when it comes to the use of their vehicles, such as buses and trucks.

“It is not allowed unless of course… naa man gud nay dynamics ang mga barangay. I’m sure you have already experienced that if you want to use a barangay bus, for example, they let you rent it out for a certain fee for gasoline, the driver, or whatever it is—and maybe some other vehicles,” Garcia explained. “In this case, I don’t really know what happened—if it was leased or not, we don’t know.”

Garcia emphasized, however, that government vehicles, whether city or barangay-owned, should never be used for private or political purposes.

“At any rate, of course, barangay vehicles, just like City-owned vehicles, cannot be used for private purposes. It always must be for a public purpose,” he said.

Garcia also discouraged barangays from allowing their vehicles to be used for political purposes, even if these are rented.

“Even if it will be rented, you know, mohangyo nalang tingali ta sa barangay nga even kung gi-abangan na, ayaw na pagamit for political purposes because it will always be misconstrued… If you lease a vehicle, ma jeepney, ma unsa pa na diha nya political purposes gani, ma-picturan jud na bisan unsaon nimo,” he added.

Although Garcia’s political party is involved in the issue, he said he would leave it to Barangay Sambag 1 to conduct its own investigation.

“Dili na kinahanglan. I will let them nalang do their own investigation, dili lang ang Cebu City, sila lang,” he said.

If a complaint is filed against the barangay over the alleged misuse of the dump truck, Garcia said it will be up to the barangay to respond to the allegations.

“If there is a complaint against them, they will have to answer it,” he said. —  Jonavie Villa (FREEMAN)