AFTER images circulated online showing a Barangay Sambag 1 truck being used to install campaign posters of Kusug-Panaghiusa coalition, Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said he was unaware of the situation.
Garcia, the coalition’s candidate for mayor in the midterm elections next year, said in a press conference on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, at Cebu City Hall that he would leave the matter to the barangay officials.
He clarified that the truck belongs to Sambag 1, not the City Government.
When asked if he would launch an investigation, Garcia said there was no need for one as barangay officials could conduct the probe on their own.
Garcia clarified that although anyone can rent barangay vehicles, officials should refrain from permitting the use of government vehicles for political purposes.
“If you want to use a barangay bus, for example, they will let you rent it out for a certain fee for the driver or for the gasoline, whatever it is,” he said.
“But in this case, I don’t know what really happened... Leased or not, we don’t know,” he said.
Garcia said he would ask barangay officials to avoid renting trucks for political purposes, as such actions can be misconstrued.
“If you lease a vehicle—whether it’s a jeepney or any other vehicle—for political purposes, it will always be photographed, no matter what you do,” Garcia said in Cebuano. / JPS