LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Philippines—The Land Transportation Office has ordered the dismantling of all checkpoints in Nueva Vizcaya following complaints that LTO personnel were using them to extort money from drivers of vegetable trucks and public utility vehicles from Benguet and Mountain Province.

Lawyer Federico Mandapat Jr., Cordillera director of the Department of Transportation and Communications, said LTO Chief Arturo Lomibao issued an urgent directive on Thursday that suspended the authority of all LTO enforcers in Nueva Vizcaya to set up checkpoints there.

Vegetable traders on Monday began using the alternate but longer route along Dalton Pass in Nueva Vizcaya to bring their produce to the vegetable trading post here following the closure of Halsema Highway due to landslides and road cuts.

Halsema Highway, which connects Benguet and Mountain Province, is the main route used by delivery trucks to bring vegetables to the trading post in this capital town.

But the traders said LTO personnel in Nueva Vizcaya were taking advantage of the situation by forcing them to stop in the guise of inspecting the vehicles for any traffic violation so they could ask for money.

Lomibao's order said even vehicles carrying relief goods have not been spared.

Benguet farmers said the checkpoints have delayed their deliveries and the money they spent so they could pass through have taken much of their earnings when they sold their crops, which were no longer fresh because of the longer route they have to take.

"We received these complaints and we wanted to stop them as soon as possible," Mandapat told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Thursday.

Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan and Mountain Province Governor Maximo Dalog welcomed the order.

"These [people] must be taught a lesson. We are all in pain because of the disaster and here are people who take advantage of the situation," Fongwan said.