Thursday, August 21, 2008 Budget officer’s service car consumes ‘30 liters a day’
A MANDAUE City official’s service vehicle consumed up to 30 liters a day for a few months last year, which the vice mayor found unjustifiable.
Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna showed reporters gasoline receipts all signed, except for one, by City Budget Officer Lamberto Marababol.
The receipts showed that Marababol’s vehicle used 30 liters of gasoline a day in July last year up to August, but consumption levels dropped to 10 liters a day. This went up again to 20 liters a day in November, then back to 30 liters a day in December.
When sought for reaction, Marababol said that other officials and offices also used that vehicle, which would explain its huge consumption. He could not recall which offices these were.
On July 16, 2007, two separate receipts for 30 liters of fuel were issued by the Ceniza Petron Center for Marababol’s Toyota Revo (SEZ-695). Marababol signed one, while his driver signed the other, said Fortuna.
“Tinonto na ‘na (That’s ridiculous),” said Fortuna. His Isuzu Trooper, by comparison, consumes only 40 liters of fuel a week. He uses it to travel within Mandaue and sometimes to other parts of Metro Cebu.
In November last year, four months after his term began, Mayor Jonas Cortes tasked City Administrator Briccio Boholst and Marababol to come up with a standard scheme for the distribution of fuel to all City-owned vehicles.
This was supposed to correct the previous administration’s practice of allowing anybody in a given department to use the vehicle assigned to it, said the mayor.
When Sun.Star asked Marababol yesterday who used the Toyota Revo, other than the budget office, he said, “Di man nako ma recall kay wa man ko listing (I can’t recall that because the list isn’t with me now.”
He could not explain why two 30-liter receipts were issued last July 16, 2007. He has no detailed driver and will only recall who signed the receipt once he sees the signature.
Marababol’s gas receipts have corresponding purchase requests signed by Assistant City Administrator Ernesto Maringuran.
Boholst said that when Cortes assumed as the mayor, all the vital documents that would show how much fuel the City consumes were nowhere to be found.
The fuel meters of all City-owned vehicles were broken, and the mayor suspected pilferage, Boholst added.
That prompted Cortes to implement a scheme to control fuel distribution.
From P35,376 worth of fuel consumed in July 2007, the budget officer’s vehicle went down to P18,184 in August.
Boholst announced last February that the City saved P1 million worth of fuel a month, compared to the previous administration’s record.
The mayor had received a document signed by the previous city accountant, Eliseo Ledesma, which stated that from January to June 2007—before Cortes assumed his post—the City consumed P19,153,804 worth of gasoline, oil and lubricants.
A source from the city’s motor pool said that each vehicle issued to the PNP gets 20 liters daily. The Accert rescue team’s Penetrator truck gets 10 liters, while the ambulance gets a daily supply of 20 liters.
Traffic motorcycles get 10 liters per week. The city agriculture office’s service vehicle gets 20 liters per week, the same as the multicab issued to the Department of Interior and Local Government.
The motor pool source said that the police and other offices ask for additional supply if they exceed their limit. For that, however, the head of office has to make a request and get the mayor’s approval. (OCP)
