LTO chief vows to purge agency of corruption

Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Jose Arturo Tugade said that his number one mission when he assumed office as head of the agency was to eradicate corruption.

On that note, the LTO boss stated that doing it entails sacrifice and a lot of hard work, recognizing that the task s no easy feat.

“I have seen how corruption destroyed the lives of even good men who fell prey to this evil. The LTO is a public service-oriented, customer-driven agency and I would like it to keep it that way by crushing corruption from its head to its tail. This way, all LTO employees in the country will serve the public with their heads held up high,” Tugade explained.

The LTO chief emphasized that its anti-corruption initiatives in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies of the government will not stop as long as he is at the helm of the agency. Further, he will continue to urge the heads of LTO regional and district offices around the country to push the fight against corruption.

“I also urge our countrymen to stop patronizing these fixers and to help us weed them out of LTO offices by reporting to us any form of corruption, especially if they are committed by LTO employees themselves. They have no place in government service if we catch them, and heads will roll so let this serve as fair warning to them,” he added.

Recently, alleged fixers were nabbed in an entrapment operation staged by the LTO Parañaque District Office in coordination and direction from the LTO National Capital Region (NCR)-West headed by Office-in-Charge Regional Director Roque Verzosa III, the LTO-NCR Regional Law Enforcement Unit, and the Philippine National Police (PNP) Parañaque Intelligence Section.

According to reports, the abovementioned suspects promoted their so-called services on social media platforms. These services included motor vehicle registration assistance with a “Non-Appearance/No Show” option.

Per the LTO, this is in clear violation of the agency’s policy on motor vehicle registration, where vehicles should undergo roadworthiness inspection under LTO inspectors or through the agency’s accredited Private Motor Vehicle Inspection Centers.

Further, a former LTO Antique District Office employee was reportedly charged with 12 counts of Falsification of Public Documents and 12 counts of violation of Section 4 in relation to Sections 21 and 22 of Republic Act 11032, otherwise known as the “Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.”

Photos from Land Transportation Office — Philippines Facebook Page

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