BACOLOD CITY – Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez recently announced that the city government has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Grab Philippines to track the movement of city government vehicles.
MAYOR Alfredo Benitez meets Grab Western Visayas director Jocelyn Yoshida (center) and Malou Tabar of Grab Visayas public affairs at the Bacolod City Government Center to discuss the city government’s partnership with Grab Philippines on the use of government’s vehicles. (Photo courtesy of Mayor Albee Benitez via Facebook)
Benitez, in a press briefing at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC), said that city government employees without Representation and Transportation Allowance (RATA) and all those authorized will be allowed to access the platform for free. “We know a lot of people use Grab. It’s easier,” he added.
This city had earlier pooled government vehicles to track their usage as the mayor observed during an inventory that some of them have minimal use. This city has 30 existing vehicles, including 20 old units.
Benitez said that they will procure an additional 10 units for the program.
Mary Jane Ramos, head of the City Planning and Development Office, said that P10 million will be allocated for the procurement, which will be sourced out from different government offices.
Benitez said that by tapping Grab, it would be easy for the city to liquidate payment for gasoline and other expenses because it is automated and there is digital copy of all of the movements and transactions of government employees.
He said that the application also has analytics that would enable them to know persons who used the vehicle and their location.
Benitez said that they already have a technical group that will conduct the dry run.
Last March, this city launched the MAB-Cab, a digital booking application to determine the travel locations of government employees and patterned after the Negros Occidental government’s Capitol Cab.