THE acting head of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) Camotes Island extension office has been suspended for 90 days for alleged dishonesty, falsification of documents and failure to report for work during office hours.

LTO Central Visayas Director Victor Caindec ordered the suspension of Editha Soco starting Monday, Jan. 23, 2023.

Caindec sent a letter to LTO Chief Jose Arturo Tugade, who is also Assistant Secretary of the Department of Transportation, to inform the latter about his move.

“In the best interest of the service and as a result of the personnel audit conducted by the management, the Acting Chief of Camotes Island Extension Office, Ms. Editha Y. Soco is presently on Preventive Suspension per attached Office Order for ninety (90) days upon receipt of the Formal Charge for Loafing from Duty during Regular Office Hours,” read part of his letter.

“In view thereof, the undersigned respectfully transmits to your good office all pertinent documents relative to Ms. Soco’s recent findings and actions taken by the management and the Regional Administrative Action Board (RAAB) for your information,” he added.

During the random audit done by the LTO 7, it was learned that Soco was not in her office based on the statement of her staff.

But Soco was able to show a boat ticket that she boarded a boat from mainland Cebu where she lives to Camotes Island, including her attendance in the security logbook.

When the LTO 7 validated the photocopies of her travel documents at the Philippine Coast Guard in Danao City port, her name could not be found in the passenger manifest.

Soco, who has been working in the agency for almost 30 years, has assumed the post of acting chief of LTO Camotes on two separate occasions in July 2019 and Oct. 18, 2021. (PAC, TPT)