ANTI-CORRUPTION GROUPS JOIN HANDS WITH DILG TO END RED PLATE ABUSES

Anticorruption groups today sign a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of the Interior and Local Government to jointly undertake a project which aims to end the rampant abuse of government-issued vehicles we popularly call “red plates”. Representatives of the Makati Business Club- Coalition Against Corruption and the Partnership for Transparency Fund witness the actual signing between no less than DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo and Mr. Paul Omar Gangoso, the CEO of Ecolink Philippines, a known anticorruption organization leading the Bantay Red Plate Project.

According to Mr. Gangoso, spokesperson of Bantay Red Plate, the government loses a combined amount of at least 1 billion pesos every year due to anomalous procurement, use and management of red plate vehicles. Albeit these so-called red plates are supposed to be used for the effective delivery of services, many government officials, especially among the LGU’s, have been obviously violating existing laws on the proper use of vehicles. In particular these violations include the:
• Absence of “official use only” and agency logo in vehicles;
• Not using trip tickets and travel orders when using vehicles beyond office hours and working days or when travelling out-of-town;
• Sending-off children, family members or friends to school or work;
• overpriced procurement of vehicles;
• use of vehicles in going to bars, nightclubs or beach resorts;
• gasoline re-selling / siphoning; and,
• procurement of luxury vehicles and non-disposal of current inventories.

The Bantay Red Plate project receives financial support from the Partnership for Transparency Fund. Through the project, DILG and the civil society groups led by Ecolink Philippines will be conducting fleet management seminars for Local Government Units, regular tracking of LGU expenditures relating to vehicles, and organizing civil society networks all over the country that will monitor LGU’s.

According to Bantay Red Plate, anyone can help eradicate red plate abuses by sending actual red plate abuse photos with details via email at bantayredplate@gmail.com or via SMS or MMS to 09154620222. You can also report red plate abuse cases directly to the DILG: type DILG and send to 2299.

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