BFP not spending enough to repair fire trucks - COA

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) usually exposes in its annual audit reports how some government offices are wasting government funds or are spending too much money on questionable programs and projects.

But in the case of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), state auditors said the agency is not spending enough to take care of its aging fire trucks.

In its 2009 report, COA said the failure of the BFP to prioritize and allocate sufficient funds for the repair and maintenance of serviceable fire trucks has affected its capability to carry out its mandate.

Under Republic Act 6975, the BFP is made responsible for the prevention and suppression of all destructive fires in buildings, houses and other structures.

To implement this mandate, COA said fire trucks should at all times be in good condition and equipped with all the necessary firefighting accessories.

However, each fire truck has a quarterly allocation of only P10,000, an amount that will only cover minor repairs and maintenance costs, which means repairs that require more funds are being programmed and requested for funding in the Central Office.

COA said that BFP-Region VII has 114 fire trucks, eight of which are unserviceable while three are considered as beyond economic repair.

“The above fire trucks are fully depreciated and had been with the Bureau for more than 10 years, thus maintenance cost is high. Although minor repairs could immediately be addressed with the quarterly allocation of P10,000, the amount is not enough for major repairs,” the audit report said.

COA said the agency failed to prioritize the repair of fire trucks in that region last year as it spent P227,700 for the repair of two service vehicles, a fire jeep and a pick-up instead.

In Region VI, state auditors said the shortage of fire trucks was also due to the failure of BFP management to efficiently program and fund the repair and maintenance of serviceable fire trucks.

Records show that in 2009, request for repair and funding of 14 fire trucks amounting to P6,459,202 was submitted to national headquarters but as of year-end, no cash allocation was released.

“An efficient program for the repair and maintenance of the fire fighting equipment, especially fire trucks, must be put in place to enable the bureau to perform its mandated missions,” the COA report stressed.

In Region XI and Caraga, state auditors said the required submission of documents to BFP national headquarters relative to the completed repairs of fire trucks before funds are released for the purpose resulted to delay in payments.

For 2008 and 2009, 12 repair projects in the region were undertaken and accomplished costing P4,609,984, eight of which were repair of fire trucks amounting to P2,706,300.

The COA report also noted that failure of bidding deprives the BFP of awarding contracts to more competitive and eligible bidders, which would have given the agency more quality service at a comparatively lower cost.

In Caraga, state auditors said the practice of submitting the documents pertaining to completed projects to national headquarters prior to the release of cash allocation unnecessarily prolongs the turnaround time of transactions. These usually take one to six months, causing delay in the payment of claims and discouraged qualified and reputable bidders from participating in the projects.

For 2009, eleven projects for repair of fire trucks and buildings totaling P4.256 million were done through negotiated contracts due to lack of interested bidders.

The COA report said it is recommending that all city, provincial, municipal fire marshals be made to submit their programs on the repair and maintenance of fire trucks and include the details and estimated cost of repair and maintenance works.