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Senate urged to probe misuse of PCSO ambulances in provinces


BUTUAN CITY — Amid Senate inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the disbursement of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes funds and the awarding of the agency's ambulances, a local non-government organization is asking the chamber to extend its probe nationwide, especially in the Caraga Region. In a statement on Thursday, non-government organization Caraga Transparency urged the Senate blue ribbon committee to conduct an inventory of donated PCSO ambulances that were donated to local government units nationwide. Caraga Tranparency's Dr. Dominico Tabon cited reports that in Caraga alone, local officials use PCSO ambulances for their family. “Marami dyan mga ambulansya ay ginangamit lang ng mga mayor, vice mayor at councilors na pang-service sa kanilang mga pamilya sa halip ipanghakot ng may sakit na mga mahihirap," Tabon said. He said that an honest-to-goodness inventory of PCSO-donated ambulances is one of the group's advocacy since the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. “We saw abuses in the distribution of PCSO ambulances that are supposedly equally distributed or poor areas ", said Tabon. He claimed that his group had discovered instances that when sickly poor people needed the ambulances, most local government units would ask patients to pay for gasoline. Also, he said there were occasions when relatives of poor patients using the ambulances were made to pay for "honorarium" of the drivers. “Kung mamamasyal ng mga opisyales sa munisipyo sa probinsiya, may panggasoline sila pero kung ang mga pobreng tao na may emergency needs sabihin nilang walang gas yung ambulansya," the group's statement said. According to the group, the Senate must pursue its investigation on the ambulances as the "misuse" of the vehicle in the provinces have not only caused trauma among poor patients and their relatives but "have also caused numerous deaths" of patients who could not be brought to hospitals because ambulances either had no gas or driver. — Ben Serrano/LBG, GMA News

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