Saturday, June 07, 2008
Group prods ombud on case vs. 10 LTO officials
WHAT happened to the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas’ investigation on the reported rampant smuggling of vehicles in Cebu?
An official of the party-list group Bayan Muna posted the question, saying it has been months since they lodged the complaint that led to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 getting ordered to submit their comment.
“The Cada (Cebu Automotive Dealers Association) filed their complaint in November of 2007. There was no action even until we filed our own complaint in January this year,” Arman Perez, of Bayan Muna, said.
“The ombudsman should give us updates at the very least, so they can communicate to the public that their investigation is bearing results,” he added.
Involvement
Bayan Muna earlier accused 10 LTO officials, including its former Central Visayas director, of alleged involvement in the syndicated illegal registration of smuggled vehicles.
It asked the anti-graft office to issue preventive suspension orders.
Named as respondents in the complaint were former LTO 7 director Alex Leyson, former assistant director Edgar Cabase, the agency’s incumbent resident ombudsman and Chief Legal Officer, lawyer Vicente Gador Jr., and the LTO Cebu City Registrar Aleta Pulga.
Likewise, included in the complaint are Honorio Quiambao, the head of the LTO office in Diliman, Quezon City, Bernardo Borromeo of the LTO Talisay City Extension Office, Aurea Angcay of the Lapu-Lapu City Extension, Macario Getaruelas of the Tagbilaran City Extension in Bohol, Joel Maloloy-on, the incumbent LTO registrar in Tagbilaran, and Mandaue City LTO Registrar Fernado Avila.
Suspension
The group sought the preventive suspension “to preserve the integrity of vital records and to prevent them from intimidating or otherwise influencing any and all witnesses who may want to testify.”
“The aforementioned LTO officials, by their acts or omission, had directly or indirectly participated, colluded in, consented to and/or condoned the illegal registration of smuggled or imported vehicles resulting in substantial loss of government revenues,” the January 2008 complaint read.
Highlighted in the complaint is the alleged illegal registration of 43 imported vehicles whose registration was done somewhere else but whose plates were all issued by the LTO office in Diliman.
Registration
Of the vehicles, 26 were registered at the LTO in Cebu City, 15 from Toledo City and two from Tagbilaran City, according to a computer printout that, Perez said, Bayan Muna was able to obtain from the LTO Central Office.
In an “explanation” attached to the complaint, the Bayan Muna complaint said the vehicles were all smuggled into the country and registered with the help of “unscrupulous registrars who are willing to dispense with the documentary requirements for a hefty asking price,” ranging from P50,000 to P70,000 per car.
“To avoid detection, these smuggled vehicles, although originally registered in Cebu, were issued license plates from LTO Diliman,” it read. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 7, 2008 issue)
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