City policemen get new SUVs

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama late Wednesday night distributed 10 brand new vehicles to the Cebu City Police Office following a command conference at City Hall.

They were part of a total of 28 vehicles worth P33 million for use by the city’s 11 police stations.

Rama would have wanted to hand the vehicles to the police at the Rama Compound but was dissuaded against doing so to avoid criticisms.

Just the same, Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan-affiliated City Councilor Sisinio Andales accused the mayor of “politicizing” the distribution.

Andales, who is seeking reelection, considered the distribution “irregular.”

"Ang iyang gibuhat supak sa election law kong walay pagtugot sa Comelec. Nganong karon pa man? Klaro pamolitika niya og pangayog simpatiya niya ang PNP. Act of panic ug desperation," he said.

The P33 million was charged to the 2015 annual budget under “peace and order.”

Asked if he will be filing a complaint, Andales said he was busy campaigning for their party yesterday.

Senior Superintendent Benjamin Santos Jr., CCPO director, said distributed were four Toyota Fortuners (P1.5 million each) and six Mitsubishi Adventures (P1.03 million each), which were handed to 10 of the 11 police stations of the city.

“No politics involved, it’s only fair election and safety,” he said, who added that he was glad of the new vehicles.

“If there will be problems in a certain area they can call the police and the police will be there,” Santos said.

He said that with the new vehicles, the ones currently being used by the stations would be given to the Mobile Patrol Group.

CCPO Deputy Director for Administration Artemio Ricabo said he cannot recall what was the specific month they requested for the vehicles, only that it was sometime in 2015.

As to the propriety of the distribution of the vehicles, Commission on Elections-7 Director Jose Nick Mendros said he could not speculate, adding that they would need someone to file a formal complaint before his office could sort things out.

In a press conference yesterday, Rama said he initially wanted the command conference at the Rama Compound in Barangay Basak San Nicolas but police officials requested that they would meet at City Hall instead.

“There should be no suspicion or whatsoever, so I had done it at City Hall…That was my intention actually…meeting in the old house, kay kanang old house it is filled with positive energy ‘nya basi’g makatakod sa tanan so that was my intention, nothing more, nothing less,” Rama told reporters.

He hoped that with the new vehicles, the police stations would respond positively and improve their performance.

"This is to strengthen police visibility and mobility and we'll hope maybe it can give confidence to tourists and citizens to feel secured," he said.

Rama said the remaining 18 vehicles would be turned over after the flag-raising ceremony this Monday, May 2.

Asked about the response of the police officials, the mayor said they appeared happy.

“I can see in their faces they all were very motivated…because I only asked them to serve and protect,” he said.

A few days ago, Rama complained against the reshuffling of CCPO’s police station chiefs, saying he should have been consulted being the chief executive of the city and therefore someone who has operational control over the police officials. – /RHM (FREEMAN)