Capitol defends rental of heavy equipment

CEBU, Philippines - The provincial government yesterday defended its scheme of renting heavy equipment as opposed to maintaining its own engineering task force.

Capitol spokesman Rory Jon Sepulveda said yesterday the province was able to reduce its operational expenses since it adopted the rental scheme when Governor Gwendolyn Garcia assumed office in 2004.

Sepulveda said the province had created several engineering groups before, but decided to dissolve them owing to problems in the groups’ operations. The task forces were tasked to maintain provincial roads in different municipalities.

Sepulveda said there were reports that drivers hired by Capitol failed to do their jobs like one driver who reportedly went to the towns assigned to him only in the afternoon of a Monday. 

Reports also surfaced that some drivers were allegedly involved in selling crude oil from the heavy equipment. Parts of several heavy equipments were also allegedly reported missing.

“Nakita nato nga dako kaayo ang oras nga mausik kun atong ipabilin ang operasyon sa task force nga maoy muayo sa kadalanan sa kalungsuran,” Sepulveda said.

“Daghan gayud kaayo og problema ang atong nasugatan mao nga si Gobernador Gwen Garcia nakahunahuna og mga bag-ong paagi nga mao ang pag-abang sa mga ekipos,” said Sepulveda.

One of the advantages in renting the heavy equipment, Sepulveda said, is that Capitol was able to mobile the services of owners and contractors during calamities.

He said that during calamities, the provincial government also mobilized the services of some heavy equipment owners and contractors. He emphasized that even if the heavy equipment are just being rented, the provincial government can easily deploy them when the need arises.

“Nangandam na ang kapitolyo ana nga problema,” said Sepulveda.   (FREEMAN NEWS)