Mandaue traffic enforcers seize fake licenses in two weeks

AN MMDA traffic enforcer confiscates the license of a bus driver for a traffic violation along Edsa extension in Pasay City. Inquirer file photo. EDWIN BACASMAS

Traffic enforcers in Mandaue City are strictly inspecting credentials of apprehended drivers after the enforcers caught in two weeks five drivers with fake licenses.

Glenn Antigua, Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM) chief for operations, said they were alarmed by the apprehensions.

“Na-alarma mi kay murag daghan man. Naa pa kuno daghan ana mostly (jeepney) drivers, amo pa gikuan kung tinuod ba mao nang sige mi og operations (We are alarmed at this because this is quite a number. We received reports that there are still a lot of them out there, especially jeepney drivers, but we are still validating this through our operations),” Antigua said.

Last week, a TEAM enforcer apprehended a foreign national for violating the No Left Turn rule. When the foreigner surrendered his driver’s license, the enforcer recognized it as a fake license based on its appearance.

Antigua said that enforcer then had the license number validated with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and according to office’s records, the license number was owned by somebody from Caloocan City in Luzon.

On Monday, another traffic enforcer confiscated a fake license of a jeepney driver, who committed a traffic violation.

Antigua said that they texted the license number number to the LTO hotline and the license number could not be found in their records.

On Tuesday, another enforcer also confiscated the fake driver’s license of a truck driver violating the truck ban rule.

The driver, who managed to flee on foot, during his apprehension, told the enforcer that he had his license processed in Colon in Cebu City.

Antigua said that two other similar apprehensions were done this month.

Antigua said that the fake licenses could have been acquired through fixers with the drivers wanting to be spared the hassle of going through the process of getting a driver’s license.

He said another possibility might be that the fake licenses were stolen by pickpockets and snatchers, who erased the real identities of the holders and replaced them with the person willing to buy the driver’s license. -Dominic D. Yasay