City buses barred
EIGHT Kaohsiung buses belonging to the Cebu City Government were held by police officers in Barili for traveling without plate numbers or registration papers.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña blamed the Capitol for the incident, saying the children aboard the buses ended up missing a meal because of the interception.
But a Capitol consultant, lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda, quoted the police as saying not all the passengers were children. He added the buses were seen roaming around the province even before the incident.
"There might be a connection with a partisan political objective," said Sepulveda, who added he intends to ask the Commission on Elections (Come-lec) about this.
Acting Cebu Provincial Police Chief Erson Digal belittled text rumors the apprehensions were political. He invoked a standing policy to conduct checkpoints throughout the province because of the elections.
Digal said the first bus was stopped at 11:40 a.m. and those that followed were also stopped at the checkpoint.
A total of eight buses passed by the checkpoint and all of the buses had no plate numbers and no registration papers from the Land Transportation Office.
Digal denied rumors circulated through text that it was Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia who ordered them stopped because her convoy could not overtake them. Garcia's reelection bid is being challenged by resigned Cebu City councilor Hilario Davide III, an ally of Mayor Osmeña.
"Rehistro ra gyud na. Nganong gipadako man? (These buses were not registered. Why is this being blown out of proportion?)," Digal said.
Asked if the buses were plastered with campaign materials of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan, he admitted he was not aware of this and said it was irrelevant.
Digal said their daily activity journals are full of reports about similar violations by motorcycles and private vehicles.
"We have a strict no plate, no travel policy. That's an old policy," he explained.
This policy was reinforced after criminals perpetrated crimes using vehicles with no plate numbers, making it hard for the police to trace the owner.
Digal added there was no truth to rumors that the buses were held for long, saying it was treated like a traffic violation.
After the licenses of the drivers were confiscated and a temporary operator's permit was issued to them, they were allowed to go.
The buses were on their way to Badian town, ferrying children.
Osmeña said the police officers in Barili should have shown consideration and spared the children.
"Nangita lang sila ug sala pero kanang luoy ba. Naapil ang mga bata, ang akong mga bata. Unya dili man ni dako nga violation…pero ang mga bata wa pa sila nangaon…These children are the poorest of the poor ug ambot lang unsa'y tuyo sa Capitol nga nangita'g technicality," said Osmeña.
Osmeña said the buses are not yet properly registered since these are new vehicles given by Kaoshiung, a sister-city in Taiwan.
The buses intercepted are part of the 15 buses that were supposed to ferry close to 1,000 street children and their accompanying adults, to a summer camp of the Cebu City Task Force on Street Children.
This is supposed to take place from April 26 to May 1 at the Matutinao Elementary School, Badian.
The City-owned Kaoshiung buses were made available for free. Such requests are approved by the mayor or vice mayor's offices.
One Cebu will "dig down to the bottom" of the incident, its spokesman said.
In a press conference at the governor's office, Sepulveda said City Hall needs to explain why these buses have been traveling around Cebu Province since last week. He said he has seen these buses himself.
"They have a lot of explaining to do," he said.
As for the text messages blaming the Capitol for the interception, Sepulveda said the "master at City Hall" may be trying to create a fake picture, that's why they "created" the story about children being on board.
One Cebu, he added, does not use government-issued vehicles in their campaign sorties, but would rather borrow from supporters.
All towns, he said, were alerted about the incident. Any Kaohsiung bus will be stopped and its papers, checked.