COA strengthens drive vs mis-use of gov't vehicles
Government auditors throughout Western Visayas are now under orders to keep a tighter watch over violators of the Ombudsman’s drive against mis-use of government vehicles.
As such, a directive was issued by Commission on Audit (COA) director Sheila Villa on all supervising resident auditors here. The directive is clear – the commission must ensure strict implementations of government-prescribed guidelines on proper use of said government-issued service vehicles.
Among the COA’s longtime reminders to government officials and employees is to accomplish related travel papers in every trip. Trip tickets for instance must duly be filled up and trips must be for official businesses only.
Further still, government vehicles must have a clear mark and office logos that such is a government car with official red plates.
Since the Ombudsman launched its O-Plan Red Plate, the list of reported sightings have increased.
In the first days of the campaign, Task Force Red Plate members reported some 110 violations.
The overall mission is likewise clear and simple -- Put an end to mis-use of government “red-plated” vehicles in Region 6. The ‘targets’ are government executives with said government-issued cars. And the ‘agents,’ the men, women and unnamed tipsters out there of the Ombudsman’s Inter-Agency Task Force.
O-Plan Red Plate was launched by the government’s anti-graft body with further linkages made to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) among others.
The launching here saw full support of top Ombudsman officials with Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol rallying fellow government executives to heed the call.
“Strictly for official use only,” came the message of Apostol on the matter of government vehicle use. This, Apostol reminded, is not only the right thing to do but will straighten up wanton use of government vehicles leading to millions in waste of government funds.
To note, first official “O-Plan” regionwide operation yielded top results from Negros Occidental team topped with 30 apprehensions followed by Capiz with 19.
Same drive – all in a day’s work too – netted 16 in Aklan, 15 in Iloilo Province, 10 in Guimaras and 7 in the Province of Antique. Iloilo City, the region’s administrative center recorded 13 apprehensions.
Yet positive results came back not only from the apprehensions made.
The Office of the Ombudman in the Visayas in an update told TNT that extensive campaign generated calls from heads of various government agencies here. Queries after queries were made on the proper use of “trip tickets” while others expressed gratitude for the aggressive “O-Plan Red Plate” operation.
“Kindly inform the public to text to this hotline number – 0917-889-8662 - any violation by texting us the plate number, color and type of vehicle, day and time seen and place where spotted,” Ombudsman’s Evangeline Nuñal said. Nuñal, Associate Graft Investigator IV led the Capiz Team. “We are very happy with the early results. We are grateful to the collective efforts of the Inter Agency Task Force O-Plan Red Plate.”