Thursday, June 05, 2008 Ombud revives monitoring of government car usage
WITH fuel prices soaring, the Office of the Ombudsman wants to make sure all government cars remain “for official-use only.”
Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol yesterday announced the re-launching of Oplan Red Plate in Eastern, Western and Central Visayas.
The project, he said, will focus on government vehicles still on the road after office hours and in places no government vehicles are supposed to be—bars, pubs and other such joints.
Apostol said the project was launched “upon the orders of the Tanodbayan.” He said it will be carried out with the help of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Commission on Audit.
He described the program as “timely” because of the Arroyo Administration’s renewed calls for energy conservation.
Oplan Red Plate was first launched in 2006. In Cebu, associate investigators would make the rounds on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays and, while aboard a heavily tinted van, take photographs of every government car they see.
On the first day of its implementation in 2006, it caught 13 government cars.
The re-launched project will follow the same procedure as in 2006. The anti-graft office will compile a list of the vehicles they spot, identify the model, make and plate number, and endorse it to the LTO.
The next step is to trace which agency the car is assigned to and determine whether it was out on official business on the time and date it was seen.
As force multiplier, Apostol said they will also be leaning on anti-graft watch groups to feed them information.
“Just get the make, model and plate number and give it to us,” he said.
The former head of the Cebu Ports Authority was once penalized for the unauthorized use of his government car.
Mariano C.J. Martinez was slapped with a six-month suspension in May 2006 after an investigation showed he used his car to fetch his daughter from school.
Three CPA drivers signed affidavits saying Martinez ordered them to “fetch and drive his daughter to and from school” using an official vehicle of the CPA, a Toyota Revo, and submitted these to the anti-graft office.
In suspending Martinez, Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez was quoted as saying: “As general manager, he is supposed to know and comply with the regulations on the use of government vehicle, but he did not. For that, he must face the consequences.”
During the investigation, Martinez admitted using the government car and said he had the permission from the Cebu Port Commission. (KNR)
