PRO-7 ready to show papers of police cars

CEBU, Philippines — The Police Regional Office-7 said they are ready to submit the necessary documents if asked to by the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame for an audit by the Commission on Audit regarding the multi-billion peso acquisition of Mahindra vehicles.

PRO-7 Director Debold Sinas said that they only received the vehicles and their role in the investigation only involves reporting the number of vehicles unfit for use or defective.

“Kami sa region we are just recipients, we will only submit data, kung pila kabuok ang wala na gigamit,” he said.

Based on the latest records from the Regional Logistics Division, 135 vehicles can still be used, while 25 can no longer be used due to defects.

The defects most commonly indicated are were faulty airconditioning, brakes, and transmission.

Sinas said the vehicles no longer fit for use in crime response or for going to faraway places are mostly used to ferry suspects to court.

“Dili na g’yud dad-on sa mga kritikal nga incidents basin mabilin, taga-hatod na lang sa security and deployment,” he said.

The Mahindra vehicles were given to the police at the height of the 2016 presidential elections in PRO-7. Recently the PNP was flagged by COA over the P1.89-billion purchase in 2015 that reportedly did not follow the proper procedures.

Some police station had previously reported defects as early as four months after they received the new vehicles, and parts are expensive or rare to find.

COA stated in their report that PNP should have at least asked police stations if the purchase will answer their essential needs before making a recommendation to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget Management. (FREEMAN)