BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said Monday the City Legal Office (CLO) is conducting an investigation into the purchase of 10 patrol vehicles turned over by the previous administration to the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO).
Leonardia said they will determine first if the acquisition of the 10 patrol cars underwent a correct process.
“If we will pay these, maybe we could also be charged. We are just trying to balance these technicalities against reality,” he said.
Senior Superintendent Flynn Dongbo, acting city director of BCPO, had earlier requested Mayor Leonardia to donate the 10 Mitsubishi L-300 rescue vehicles to the police.
This came after the vehicles were returned and brought to the Bacolod Government Center last week for inspection and inventory, based on the request of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO).
The 10 vehicles were turned over by former Mayor Monico Puentevella to the BCPO last June.
CDRRMO officer-in-charge Joemarie Vargas said the vehicles were returned to the City Government after the Negros Oriental-based supplier requested for the inspection of the vehicles and asked for payment.
Dongbo, in his letter to the mayor dated December 12, said the BCPO needs the vehicles considering that they have insufficient patrol vehicles to use in their anti-criminality campaign and in the maintenance of peace and order.
Leonardia said they will schedule the inspection of the patrol cars so that it will not affect the operations of the city police.
Vargas had earlier said the previous administration has yet to pay the supplier because the funds to be used for the purchase of the vehicles amounting to P8.4 million cannot be sourced from the calamity funds.
The calamity fund can never be used for non-disaster operations. It cannot be used for the rescue vehicles to be turned over to the police, he added.
