CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Bureau of Fire Protection had failed to register with the Land Transportation Office more than 300 vehicles in its fleet since the BFP was placed under the Department of Interior and Local Government from the police in 1991.
Director Enrique Linsangan, BFP chief, said 80 percent of the unregistered vehicles are fire trucks. The rest are cars used for administrative purposes.
According to him, most of the unregistered vehicles are in Cebu, Central Luzon and Metro Manila.
"We are in the process of correcting the situation and the target date is this year," Linsangan said in a phone interview. About P2 million has been allotted for the registration process, he said.
The registration was overly delayed because the documents were lost or misplaced by the defunct Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police.
"We need to register to give our BFP personnel protection. In the event they’re involved in an accident while undertaking legitimate operations, they may not be covered by insurance and they may shoulder the liability," he explained.
The BFP in Central Luzon has begun registering the 60 vehicles in its inventory in the seven provinces, starting off with a Ford 350 ambulance, according to the bureau’s regional director, Senior Supt. Ma. Luisa Hadjula
She said she tapped Redentor Reyes of the LTO to assist in the registration of mostly fire trucks, tankers and pumpers.
On the advice of Reyes, she executed and published an affidavit of loss with undertaking that said that the "documents were not nor has it ever been confiscated for violation of any traffic laws nor used as collateral for any obligation obtained."
"The vehicles are all in good working condition and our fire personnel take chances in using these especially when they respond to situations. Otherwise, they refuse to drive those vehicles," Hadjula said.
Linsangan said Hadjula’s efforts will be replicated in other regions so that the BFP can fast-track the registration.
As of February, 827 of 1,494 towns in the country have fire protection capability. The BFP reported needing at least 667 more fire trucks to meet its mandate of establishing a fire station in every local government unit.
The BFP has 1,629 fire trucks but only 1,272 are operational. The rest are under repair or beyond repair.
It has 16,227 personnel, still a far shot from the target of 29,220 firefighters.
DILG Sec. Ronaldo Puno had described the BFP’s budget to be "dismal," getting only an increase of 10.34 percent yearly. At least 0.75 percent of its budget is spent for buying fire fighting equipment and for the construction of fire stations, 14.19 percent for maintenance and operating expenses and 85.06 percent for salaries and personnel benefits.
