The Department of Interior and Local Government has written Governor Roel Degamo to ask for an explanation over the recall orders for the vehicles issued to Vice Gov. Mark Macias, Board Members Melliemoore Saycon, Jessica Jane Villanueva, Edmund Dy, Peve Ligan, Liland Estacion and Erwin Macias.
Director Manuel Gotis of the DILG central office, in his letter, said the vehicles of the Vice Governor and the Board Members were issued based on Resolution 235 of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in 2010.
This Resolution became the basis of an Ordinance appropriating P21,218,380 to buy the vehicles for the Vice Governor and the Board Members for project monitoring.
The Ordinance, which was passed during the time of Gov. Agustin Perdices in 2010, was signed by then Vice Gov. Degamo.
Director Gotis said the Ordinance has not yet been superseded by a subsequent law from the Provincial Board.
Degamo had revoked the Memorandum Receipts of Macias and the board members last April, after the Provincial Board exercised its power of the purse and changed some portions of the Governor’s budget request, distributing some amounts to other provincial government offices. The Board also refused to appropriate an Intelligence Fund of P10 million to Degamo.
In response, the Governor withdrew the funding of the Board for their pet projects. In revoking the Memorandum Receipts, Degamo said the original purpose for which the vehicles were issued, for monitoring projects, no longer exists.
First to be confiscated was the vehicle assigned to Board Member Melliemoore Saycon, which was recovered by policemen from the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit.
Degamo requested all law enforcement agencies to confiscate the vehicles as these vehicles have already been considered carnapped because their Memorandum Receipts had already been revoked.
But Macias and the other Provincial Board members stuck to their stand, saying the Governor was duty bound to implement the law passed in 2010.
After receiving a copy of the letter of Director Gotis, which was also furnished to DILG Regional Director Rene K. Burdeos, Macias and the Board Members were observed to be using their issued vehicles.
