Barangays get fire truck, cars; buses to follow

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Hall yesterday provided barangay Sambag II with a mini fire truck and barangays Paril and Tinago with a patrol vehicle each, and that it is also scheduled to distribute heavy duty buses to all mountain barangays of the city’s south district next month.

Sambag II village chief Carl Belarmino said that the mini fire truck, worth P668,000 that was donated to his barangay, is seen to be very useful because Sambag II has several narrow roads that cannot be easily penetrated by huge fire trucks in case of fire incidents.

Belarmino recalled that when Sambag II was hit by a fire in 2004, firefighters encountered difficulties in getting near the fire scene because of the narrow roads.

He said the mini fire truck, with a capacity of 1,000 liters only, can be used to penetrate the interior portions of their barangay in case of fires.

“Nangayo g’yod ko aning gamay’ng fire truck aron maka-penetrate sa mga sudlonon nga lugar. Maayo na lang ni nga magamit dayon samtang maghuwat sa mga (bigger) responding fire trucks,” Belarmino said.

Each of the police vehicle that was donated to Paril and Tinago yesterday costs P445,000. It has a compartment at the rear portion, similar to a stockade, where arrested persons can be placed while they are on transport to the police stations.

A similar type of police vehicle will be given to barangay Kasambagan on Monday, said Councilor Augustus Pe Jr., the chair of the committee on peace and order of the City Council, who facilitated the purchase of the said vehicles.

Each of the bus that will be distributed to each of the 14 mountain barangays of the city’s south district next month costs P1.6 million. Mayor Tomas Osmeña has decided on the purchase of such after seeing the big need for hinterland barangays to be provided with heavy duty buses.

“Kun hatagan sila og baratohon nga bus maglisod man og tungas sa bukid mao nga heavy duty ang angay nila,” the mayor explained before he left for Houston, Texas to undergo a physical checkup in relation to the procedure he had undertaken while being treated for cancer. — Rene U. Borromeo/MEEV   (FREEMAN NEWS)