CH to cut fuel allocations if prices continue to spike
The Cebu City government is planning to cut the fuel allocation of some city-owned vehicles if fuel prices continue to surge.
Department of General Services Head Ronald Malacora, however, assured that vehicles used for basic services like the garbage trucks, police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks will be given priority in the fuel allocation.
“Kun mag sige gyud na ang trend no nga saka ang presyo ug considering nga na exhaust na nato ang atong budget, ang mahitabo ana, mag implementar ta og cutting sa fuel allocation per month. But, i-prioritize nato ang units for basic services like garbage, police, unya ambulance, fire truck,” he said.
Malacora said the city government has allocated P90 million this year for the oil, lubricants, gasoline, and diesel consumption of over 1,000 vehicles of the city, barangays, and the police.
Of the P90 million, he said P3 million is for the oil and lubricants while P87 million is for the gasoline and diesel allocations.
Because of the series of price increases of the gasoline and diesel, Malacora said his office re-aligned P9.1 million of unspent funds under his office to augment the P87 million, which will be depleted by the end of November.
Three days ago, he said the price of the gasoline reached over P49 per liter. He said the allocation was only P37 per liter this year. Aside from the 800 running and serviceable city-owned vehicles, Malacora said the city is also giving fuel allocations for 44 motorcycles and 45 units of four-wheeled vehicles assigned to the Cebu City Police Office.
For this year, he said the city also allocated fuel for the barangay-owned garbage trucks and other vehicles. Each of the barangay's garbage truck, Malacora said has 300 to 500 liters of fuel per month. He added that there are also units that are getting 200 to 250 liters of fuel per month.
Malacora said the P9.1 million augmented funds will be bid out next week to ensure continued fuel subsidy until November.
“Unique ang pagbidding sa fuel. Usually, kun mamalit ta atong i-award sa lowest bidder. Ang sa fuel, atong i-award based on highest discount nga i-offer. So, mag-canvass mi og at least three suppliers within sa city. So, the lowest canvass price meaning kanang sa canvass board nga i-display, ang pinakabarato ana, minusan na og P1.40 per liter nga discount mao na ang offer sa existing supplier karon which is Phoenix Petroleum,” he added.
He said the realignment of funds was already approved by the City Council last month. The P9.1 million was from the DGS's unspent accounts for repairs and maintenance of elevator and other equipment, rent expenses, water expenses, supplies for motor vehicles, advertising expenses, among others.