City wants P571M vehicles; didn’t allocate funds for fuel

CEBU, Philippines - While the Cebu City Hall executive department is lobbying for the procurement of P571 million worth of motor vehicles at the City Council, nothing was proposed for its fuel allocation.

General Service Office chief Dionisio Gualiza, in a budget hearing yesterday afternoon, said P156.2 million was proposed for the gasoline, oil and lubricant expenses for more than 1,000 city-owned vehicles excluding motor vehicles being requested for next year.

Of the P156.2 million, P13.5 million was allocated for lubricants and P23 million for fuel, among others. This year, the city has budgeted P142.9 million for gasoline and oil, but as of October, about P100,000 is still unutilized.

Despite the non-inclusion for the proposed vehicles’ fuel budget, Gualiza said the city could still use the 10-percent contingency fund of the totaled P682.4 million-budget for all offi-ces under GSO. The city could also charge this against a supplemental budget, he added.

According to Gualiza, their budget for all offices has ballooned to P682.4 million from this year’s P495.9 million, which serves as a “preventive maintenance” over possible shortage of funds for gasoline, oil, water, electricity, supplies and materials for motor vehicles, among others.

On the other hand, P132.9 million was proposed for the maintenance and other operating expen-ses, capital outlay, and personal services of the department alone.

Part of the budget was earmarked for the construction of fuel station at South Road Properties motor pool and for the concreting of the parking area at GSO Repair Bay.

Of the P571 million worth of motor vehicles, P209 million was proposed by the Department of Public Services to enhance the delivery of the city’s basic services.

DPS is planning to purchase 10 motorcycles for DPS monitoring team, two L300 vans, six-wheeler boom truck, and 27 additional dump trucks, among others.

The city has 36 garbage trucks, three of which have already bogged down, said DPS chief Engr. Rolando Ardosa. Each truck has a maintenance fund of P250,000 a year.

DPS is proposing P732.9 million for next year’s operations, which tripled from this year’s P198.9 million budget.

Councilor Mary Ann Delos Santos said buying all the vehicles and heavy equipment will surely “improve our services.”

Councilor Margarita Osmeña, however, disagreed, saying “it does not necessarily mean that if we buy everything ma-improve na. Practically, we can’t grant everything for everybody. The barangays have their responsibilities and they have the resources. We just need coordination and cooperation.” (FREEMAN)