By MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City — Councilor Carlos Jose Lopez criticized General Services Office (GSO) chief Jerome Solinap for “denying” knowledge about how the former acquired for use a city government-owned dump truck.
Lopez accused Solinap of having an “evil machination” that could destroy his image.
Lopez said it was impossible for Solinap not to know how he acquired the six-wheeler Isuzu Elf mini dump truck, like what the GSO chief told the media recently.
He said Solinap signed an Acknowledgment Receipt for Equipment (ARE) dated October 31, 2012, that the GSO issued to him.
The councilor also denied allegations that the dump truck was not used according to purpose.
In a press conference yesterday, Lopez showed a letter from the City Health Office requesting the use of the dump truck for the transport of medical supplies and emergency kits from the Department of Health regional office in Iloilo City on April 22.
Dated March 31, 2014, the letter was signed by the City Health Officer Dr. Salome Biñas.
Solinap denied Lopez’s claim. He said he did not deny any knowledge about how the councilor acquired the truck.
“I never said that I have no idea regarding the release of the dump truck,” Solinap stressed. “What I said during a press conference at the mayor’s office last week [is] I am not sure how Lopez acquired the dump truck from the city government.”
“What I told the media was I have to check at my office if there was a document on the release of the dump truck,” he said. “Lopez acquired the dump truck during the term of Mayor Evelio Leonardia,” now a congressman.
“Who am I to destroy him,” the concurrent Bids and Awards Committee chair asked. “I have a high respect for the honorable councilor. I am not getting into any politics here. I am just a career officer doing my job.”
Lopez last week turned over the dump truck and a patrol boat to the city government, but Executive Assistant Reynaldo Ebreo did not accept the patrol boat.
In a letter dated May 15, 2014, Victor Emmanuel Espina, head of GSO’s Inventory Division, told Lopez that the city government cannot receive the patrol boat until it is tested and certified seaworthy.
Citing their expertise, Mayor Monico Puentevella tasked executive assistants Reynaldo Ebreo and Rufino Alcala to conduct the testing, Espina said.
Lopez questioned Ebreo’s refusal to accept the patrol boat on behalf of GSO. Ebreo was not authorized or mandated to do such, he said.
He also said he was advised by the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas to ask the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, donor of the patrol boat, to send their marine experts from the Philippine naval base in Cavite to inspect the unit, conduct a seaworthiness trial in the presence of GSO and Commission on Audit, and account for its accessories./PN
