19 LTO personnel sacked over traffic ticket mess

AN LTO ENFORCER flags down a pickup without a license plate on Edsa in Cubao, Quezon City, on the first day of the implementation of the agency’s “no plate, no travel” policy. Violators face up to P10,000 in fines on top of the impounding of their vehicles. LEO M. SABANGAN II

ILOILO CITY—The Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Western Visayas region has relieved 19 of its personnel who are facing investigation for alleged irregularities in the issuance of citation tickets to motorists violating traffic rules.

The erring members of the regional enforcement service were transferred to district and satellite offices pending results of the investigation, said lawyer Gaudioso Geduspan, LTO regional legal officer and chief of the agency’s regional antifixers team.

The personnel, composed of six regular employees and 13 job order workers, were relieved over their possible involvement in a scheme where citation tickets or temporary operator’s permits (TOP) were tampered with for a fee.

Geduspan said their investigation showed the TOP were tampered with through the use of pens with erasable ink that dissolves or disappears when heated.

By using this pen, LTO enforcement personnel would change the traffic violation in the TOP to another violation with lower fines.

Geduspan said a citation for driving without vehicle registration papers carried a fine of P12,000. The erring motorist, however, would be asked to pay only half that amount once the ticket is tampered with.

When violators claim their licenses, the enforcement agent would alter the TOP to indicate a violation for driving without seatbelt, which carried a fine of P1,000. The difference of P5,000 would then be pocketed by the agent.

Geduspan said they were alerted by an anonymous tipster on the alleged irregularities in the agency’s office in Roxas City in Capiz province, which prompted the investigation last month.

Aside from not using pens provided by the agency, the enforcement agents were also cited for the delay in remitting the TOP.

“They remitted the citation up to three days after it was issued, which was contrary to rules that these should be submitted within the day or the next day to avoid tampering or bribery,” Geduspan told the Inquirer.

He expected the investigation to be completed in two weeks.

President Duterte, in his speeches about ridding the government of corruption, had mentioned the LTO as among the agencies where corrupt practices and irregularities were rampant.

The President had also said he wanted to hasten the application of licenses and other permits because he did not want to see people queuing for any government service.

Earlier, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade also promised to launch “sweeping changes” in his agency, which is in charge of LTO and other transportation-related offices in the government. – Nestor P. Burgos Jr