FROM vehicle registrations to traffic woes, the ongoing word war between Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 Director Victor Caindec has taken another turn.
This, after Caindec disclosed that he has been receiving death threats since his dispute with the mayor began.
He said he plans to report the matter to the National Bureau of Investigation Regional Cybercrime Center Visayas-Cluster and the administrator of Facebook, since the threats were sent online.
Caindec suspects that the persons behind these threats are internet trolls using fake accounts.
But for Osmeña, Caindec may just be playing the “victim” card.
“So since you cannot win the argument, victim card na ipagawas? Are these the ‘serious death threats’ that you were gleefully mocking just last Saturday?” reads a portion of the mayor’s post dated July 18 in his official Facebook page.
Osmeña uploaded screen-captured photos of Caindec’s post last July 14 on the eight alleged death threats the latter has received since July 12 through Facebook Messenger.
“Not bad at all. Eight threats on my Messenger account since Thursday. Am I that important to rattle your nerves? (smiling emoji),” Caindec said, to which the mayor replied: “These are ‘threats?’ For someone whining about it all over the papers today (July 18), you didn’t seem very upset about it at the time.”
In a text message to City Hall reporters yesterday, Osmeña belied reports that he may have had a hand in the alleged threats Caindec has been reportedly receiving.
“I hit the LTO over the payment of P12,000-penalty for driving without registration, which is the fault of LTO. The idiot answered using his name and said that if these drivers can’t be patient, they don’t deserve to drive. He identified himself as the culprit and insulted the 13,000 grieving applicants to boot. It was only then that I heard it was him. I didn’t even know how he looks like. I’m afraid that some people don’t like him so much, I noticed in the social media,” Osmeña said.
The mayor had said that he plans to file charges against LTO officials who are responsible for the delay in vehicle registrations.
Caindec, however, believed that Osmeña was out of line and should instead focus on the problems that the city is facing.
This sparked the ongoing rift between the two government officials.
“Illegal”
During the 888 News Forum at the Marco Polo Plaza last Tuesday, Caindec pointed out that the anti-counterflowing measure the City implemented last February, or Executive Order (EO) 34, violated the right to free passage, the right to property and the right to due process.
“That is my opinion of which my lawyers seemed to concur. This (EO) is not a court. Regardless of what I think, the EO has been implemented and about 40,000 motorcycles were confiscated, affecting people who relied on that as their modality or transport,” Caindec said.
He said that maybe Osmeña conducted a survey and found out that the move was unpopular with the public.
“But I cannot find any other reasonable source of irritation (of Osmeña against me) other than that, which led him to issue a statement to appease the motorcycle sector. So he used the registration issue,” Caindec said.
“I have said in several occasions that there is no mission order coming from the LTO regional director to apprehend unregistered motorcycles because I know for a fact, that there are processes that are still not within the standard that we want to achieve,” Caindec said.
However, he clarified that he had issued several mission orders to apprehend violators who compromise road safety, considering the number of accidents.
The LTO is not selective in applying the law, he added.
A driver without a helmet, a driver who is overloading or driving recklessly, and a driver whose vehicle is not registered will all be arrested because they violated the law.
“Osmeña also capitalized on the issue of no registration of vehicles. I have sent several communications to our central office explaining that particular issue and proposing a cause of action. In other words, it is not as if I am oblivious to the problem internally,” Caindec said.