by Ven rebo Arigo

Capitol officials denounced as “twisted” and “misleading” the media report name dropping Pres. Rodrigo Duterte to have allegedly asked the province to explain the Sangguniang Panlalawigan’s (SP) plan to buy new service vehicles.

Vice Gov. Rene Relampagos particularly hit the Bohol Chronicle and dyRD reports as not just “twisted” but also “malicious.” 

Provincial Legal Officer Nilo Ahat said the president did not himself ask the Capitol to explain the SP’s plan to buy new vehicles and so the media reports are “misleading.” 

Propagandists and trolls identified with the camp of Rep. Aris Aumentado of the Second District, rumored to be running for governor, feasted on the purported slanted and inaccurate media report by using it on their platforms and attack the provincial leadership.

In an interview on dyTR’s radio program Open Forum hosted by the highly-respected Ardy Araneta-Batoy and Dave Albarado on May 31, 2021, Relampagos lamented over what he sensed to be an obviously pro-Aumentado dyRD-Bohol Chronicle news item.

It was published that Duterte allegedly “asked the provincial government to explain” its insistence to spend P24 million for 14 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for the 13 SP members and their presiding office who is the vice governor.

Relampagos likewise corrected this claim because they plan to acquire not SUVs but pick-up trucks as authorized by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

BACKGROUND

The issue stems from an anonymous complaint written in Tagalog that was lodged against the vehicle purchase plan, to the Malacañang through the Citizen’s Complaint Hotline 8888.

The unknown complainant claimed the vehicle purchase plan is inappropriate and the fund should instead be diverted to projects that will help mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus disease (Covid) pandemic.

This has been the line repeatedly harped by the critics of Gov. Arthur Yap and Relampagos to falsely portray the provincial leadership as insensitive.

The anonymous complaint was believed to be authored by the camps who have conspired apparently to destroy the Yap-Relampagos administration.

The complaint hotline has been created by the Office of the President and it observes a process of attending to the volume of daily complaints coming from all over the country.

As per protocol, the hotline office transmitted the complaint to the DILG Regional Office so that the complaint, even if anonymous, could be clarified by the concerned agency, which in this case is the provincial government through the SP.

The DILG-7 forwarded the complain to its provincial office in Bohol. The DILG provincial office, in turn, sent it to the governor’s office. The governor’s office endorsed the said complaint to the SP.

The vice governor and the SP explained the vehicle purchase plan even if it was already authorized by the DILG Central Office.

The province cannot proceed with the vehicle acquisition plan without the required authority from the DILG.

Although the complaint bears the name of the president’s office, it was never Duterte himself who asked the provincial leaders to explain as alleged in the news report.

Just because the hotline desk acted on the complaint and transmitted as part of usual routine should not be falsely reported as an act of the president himself, another Capitol official said.

One more official commented: If Congress has a hotline manned by a staff of the House speaker and transmits a complaint in an electronic form bearing the name of the speaker’s office to the concerned congressman for clarification, is it factual and truthful to insist that it is the speaker who personally asked the solon to explain?

NOT INSENSITIVE

Meanwhile, Relampagos, for and being the head of the provincial board, issued a statement dismissing the insinuation that the SP is insensitive.

The statement reads:

“We, the SP, want to make a statement that we are not insensitive. We always do what is best for our people. We are not saying, however, that the SP does not need good and reliable service vehicles. However, we are giving up the privilege of using the said vehicles to offices that like us give services to our people in the frontlines. This will hopefully optimize the rendering of services to our good people of Bohol. Our job and responsibility as SP members are not just to attend sessions and committee meetings in the Provincial Capitol, but require us to visit the barangays and our constituents in far-flung areas so that we actually know what’s happening on the ground. Thank you.”

Even if the provincial legislature waived its privilege to use the vehicles, which are not yet acquired, the fact remains that the need for the vehicles not just for the SP but other offices does exist.

Some other offices do need new or additional service vehicles, only that the SP has its own allocation to buy new vehicles.

HUGE MAINTENANCE COST

The DILG authorized the vehicle buy plan also considering that based on a technical audit, the government will spend more on maintenance costs than to buy new ones.

Bought at a cost of more than P15 million, about 10 years ago, the 14 SP vehicles already accumulated over P11 million in repair and maintenance cost as of last year.

The audit estimated the government service vehicles “lifetime” is at only seven years.

The purchase of new vehicles was planned in 2019, but it was deferred as the SP decided to realign the fund for Covid response in 2020.

When the province’s 2020 annual general appropriation was prepared and approved in 2019, there was no allocation for any programs and activities addressing the then unforeseen pandemic.

Nobody knew about the pandemic when the said 2020 annual budget was prepared and approved.

But the Capitol was still able to spend a lot for Covid responses in 2020 by realigning some funds, including the budget for to acquire new vehicles.

This year, the province has already allocated hundreds of millions for continuing pandemic responses and management, upgrading and modernization of the 10 hospitals it owns, and other health programs.

DECEIVING THE PEOPLE

Using the vehicle purchase issue, the critics would want to deceive the public to believe that the province is spending nothing for its response to the pandemic, health and other emergency and essential concerns.

The critics are always on the lookout for issues that can be used to malign the provincial leadership.