THE Cebu Provincial Government will not take back the patrol cars that it has donated to the police stations.

This was announced by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia during her meeting with Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Debold Sinas and other police officials on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Garcia said she will not recall the patrol cars so the day-to-day operations of the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) will not be hampered.

The governor issued Memorandum Circular 2-2019 last June 30, instructing the Provincial General Services Office (PGSO) to immediately recall all the Province’s vehicles assigned to the local government units (LGUs) through memorandum receipts.

Garcia said PGSO will continue the inventory and check if there are surplus of vehicles from the LGUs. The extra vehicles will be transferred to a town or city that need them.

She has given the PGSO only until today, July 5, to submit the inventory of vehicles and equipment owned by the Province. The Suroy-Suroy Sugbo buses and ambulances are among vehicles to be recalled.

Garcia said an LGU that has multiple ambulances will retain one or two.

She ordered that a patient will not be charged for the ambulance use if he is transferred from a Province-run hospital to another hospital.

“No one can use the ambulance if one wants to go shopping in a mall,” Garcia said.

Meanwhile, the governor will get two police escorts six years after her experience with then Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director Marcelo Garbo with whom she was at odds.

Sinas came up with the decision during his meeting with Garcia.

The police official said his conversation with the governor was fruitful and she expressed her full support for the CPPO.

He said one of the topics he discussed with Garcia was about her security.

Garcia was suspended by the Office of the President on December 17, 2012 for grave abuse of authority for allegedly bypassing the late Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr and the provincial council in hiring contractual employees.

She was serving the remaining months of her third and last term as governor when the suspension was handed down.

Garbo played an active role in trying to evict Garcia from the Office of the Governor. (from SCG, AYB of SuperBalita Cebu/KAL)