By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — For Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) members, vehicles are “a necessity, not a luxury,” stressed SP member Salvador Escalante.
“Board members need vehicles because they are required to be visible in their (respective) districts,” Escalante said in defense of the provincial government’s plan to buy new vehicles for eight SP members.
Set to get new vehicles are Renato Gustilo (1st District), Miller Serondo (2nd District), Johnna Ko and Patrick Lacson (3rd District), Victor Javellana and Jose Maria Alonzo (4th District), Renato Malabor (5th District), and Helen Zafra (6th District).
“It would be a shame if a Board member is seen riding public transportation, if not a dilapidated vehicle,” said Escalante.
Provincial Administrator Enrique Pinongan earlier said the SP members themselves requested for new vehicles. “They said the vehicles issued to them by the capitol were already dilapidated,” he said.
SP members Rolanda Ponsica of the 1st District and Alain Gatuslao of the 5th District earlier requested for vehicles, too. The Department of Interior and Local Government approved their request with a budget of P1 million each, said Pinongan.
For the eight new requests, however, the budget asked was a minimum of P1.3 million each. In some cases, he said, “P1 million is not enough to purchase a vehicle.”
Reelected Board members will be required to return their old vehicles, Pinongan said.
He said the old vehicles will be checked for serviceability and may be given to other provincial government offices that need them or local government units with pending requests with the governor.
He said the budget for new vehicles to be purchased will be sourced from the general fund, not the SP’s fund, and included in a supplemental budget./PN
