Saturday, September 06, 2008 City to buy motorcycles for cops By Edmund B. Sestoso
THE Dumaguete City Council will give up its earlier plan of procuring cellphones for the legislators and instead realign the allotted amount to purchase at least three big motorcycles for the policemen.
The move stemmed from the recent killing of a businesswoman who is also a lotto operator in Dumaguete City.
Councilor Manuel "Chiquiting" Sagarrbaria convinced his colleagues to buy instead the motorcycles for the peace and order problem in the city.
Sagarrbaria, who is himself a businessman, delivered a privilege speech and emphasized the importance of giving priority to the recent issue on the city's peace and order.
A few months ago, the members of the City Council had appropriated the amount of not less than P300 thousand pesos to be used for the purchase of 15 units of cell phones for the members of the City Council.
The initial rationale of the earlier move, according to the councilor, was to obtain better communication services to serve the public better.
The amount was taken from the account "unprogrammed reserve" special appropriations of the current budget.
The plan, however, was criticized by the public. People said that spending a large amount of money for something that is not a priority is impractical.
"It is said that a public office is a public trust and therefore, the acts we do as stewards of this trust, should be in consonance with public trust and welfare" the councilor said.
