By Leonardo Micua

 

AN ambulance is supposed to be solely dedicated for the transport of sick or injured patients to the hospital so that they can be given immediate medical attention.

If the ambulance is used for any other purpose, especially for private benefit, every taxpayer has the right to protest to higher authorities ON the misuse of the vehicle.

I received a video footage in my chat box showing a government ambulance being used for the transport purportedly of condiments for a kitchen project incidental to a feeding program of a ranking public official or his wife. Videos, like photos, don’t lie.

I believe this was not one of the authorized uses of a government ambulance, which was funded by taxpayers’ money, either through the LGU or the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

This is tantamount to graft and corruption punishable under the Revised Penal Code and certainly, whoever misuses a government ambulance for his ends must have a face thicker than a cowhide.

Such public official running for reelection — with no compulsion at all to use a government ambulance to carry out his campaign gimmick of feeding the hungry only when it is nearing election — certainly does not deserve to return to his post.

I can recall that the mayor and vice mayor of Asingan town were suspended by the Ombudsman some time ago when somebody complained that they painted their names on a government ambulance donated to the town by the PCSO.

But using an ambulance for the politician’s kusina project is far more contemptuous.

The politician we are talking about ought to be bothered by his conscience because he is actually depriving patients in emergency situations a chance to live.

The guy we are talking about could have easily escaped censure and ignominy if he used any other public vehicles at his command or his own vehicle in bringing his condiments to the site of his kusina project.

Since misuse of a government ambulance is a kind of misfeasance, this case needs to be brought to the attention of the Ombudsman, and maybe the Commission on Audit.

But who’s bold enough to bring a case against the guy who’s the most powerful around.

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In Urdaneta City, Mayor Julio Parayno III continues to hold office in a work-from-home setting because he and his vice mayor, Jimmy Parayno, are prevented from entering the city hall to discharge their functions.

According to our co-worker Rolly Dioquino, who was in Urdaneta last March 25, six policemen still guard the entrance and exit of the city hall. 

A Regional Trial Court effectively strengthened the position of the two Paraynos to stay on even on a remote arrangement even if it denied their petition for Temporary Restraining Order and Injunction, when it ruled that the DILG improperly served their suspension order on January 7, 2025.

The claim of the DILG that it resorted to substituted service by posting the suspension order of the two city officials at the door of their respective offices, according to the court, was not in accordance with the Rules of Court.

In the meantime, Mayor Parayno remains in command and in public gatherings at night, he mentions that he and Jimmy are still the mayor and a vice mayor amid the wild cheers of his throngs of supporters who are highly partisan to his cause, “Urdaneta is for Urdanetans”. 

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The opposition in Dagupan was not telling the truth when it denied responsibility for the aborted implementation of the P150 million Mother and Child Hospital, citing that it passed the required resolution authorizing Mayor Belen Fernandez to sign a MOA for the project with DOH.

But the resolution came too late on October 8, 2024. City Hall had been pressing on the seven majority councilors to pass the measure as early as October 2023, but they were unresponsive about the matter.

The P150-million fund was included in the General Appropriations Act of 2022 when Brian Lim was still the mayor, but what his allies in the SP, including his mother and sister, did was to make sure that the administration of Belen Fernandez will not be able to use it, even if the project is meant for thousands of mothers and children of Dagupan.

Also lost was the tri-city ferry system for Dagupan, Alaminos and San Fernando because the SP failed to pass a requested resolution, the same resolution passed by the city councils of Alaminos and San Fernando.

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