CPPO chief: No recall, just inventory of vehicles

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) yesterday clarified that Governor Gwendolyn Garcia is not recalling the vehicles the Capitol issued to the police but only subjecting them to an inventory.

CPPO Director Colonel Roderick Mariano said that only those vehicles not being used, if any, will be returned to the provincial government.

“To make it clear lang, wala namang ganun na issue na ire-recall niya yung mga sasakyan namin, but some of the departments are requesting for vehicles, so tinanong lang niya ako kung meron kaming sobra. That’s why we are inventorying the vehicles issued by the provincial government para maireport namin kay Governor kung meron man. Kung wala, wala kaming maibibigay,” Mariano told reporters at a press conference yesterday.

Mariano said that based on their initial assessment, all Capitol-issued vehicles are being used by the provincial police.

In fact, he said, they still need more as some vehicles have depreciated while others are being used in different police stations across the province.

In a memorandum to the General Services Office, Garcia ordered the immediate “recall of all province-owned vehicles and equipment currently assigned to different local government units and offices.”

Garcia also required the GSO to “submit an inventory report indicating the specific vehicle, equipment, and present location not later than July 5, 2019.”

The CPPO chief said their services will be greatly affected in case the Capitol would indeed recall the vehicles issued to the police.

Meanwhile, Mariano said the police will put up checkpoints in areas where small-scale quarries exist in support to Garcia’s directive to suspend their operations.

Garcia issued the memo to “put a stop to the unabated illegal quarrying activities in the province and to prevent further degradation of the environment, which causes calamities and result in massive destruction of properties and loss of human lives.”

Garcia’s administration will review the permits of all quarry operators in the province.

“We are supporting the governor sa lahat ng kanyang programs and projects,” Mariano said when asked to comment on the directives of the new Capitol chief.

According to CPPO spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Eloveo Marquez, there are seven areas in the province with identified quarry sites. These include the towns of Asturias, Balamban, Tuburan, Compostela, and Consolacion, and the cities of Toledo and Naga.

Marquez said police in these areas have been mobilized to install checkpoints to ensure that Garcia’s memo is complied with. (FREEMAN)