Roxas turns over fire trucks in Laguna

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Interior Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II was at the Bureau of Fire Protection's (BFP) camp in Laguna on Friday (August 7) to turn over fire trucks intended for local government units.

Soon, these fire trucks will be sent to different towns across the country.

For most of the towns — it's going to be their first fire truck.

Roxas bade farewell to the firemen and made a pitch for the continuation of Daang Matuwid (Straight Path).

The 80 units were new one-thousand-gallon trucks from China for various towns in 55 provinces.

Local officials were at the event to receive the keys.

Many noticeably donned the Liberal Party's (LP) signature color — yellow.

There's Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez, Cavite Rep. BlueBoy Abaya and Pangasinan Rep. Gina de Venecia to name a few.

The event seemed like a mini campaign sortie — there was even a group in yellow, clearly rooting for Roxas's bid for next year's elections.

For Roxas, the event was an ordinary function, even if everyone knew about his bid for the presidency.

But the Cabinet officials said he was not using his position to gain political mileage.

These fire trucks were part of the 469 units ordered by the BFP.

This first batch should have been more than the target delivery of 80 trucks — 155 to be exact.

Roxas explained the delay was caused by a court order that temporarily stopped the procurement.