LTO-7 director denies allegations of widespread corruption

CEBU CITY –– He may not be identified.

But Director Victor Caindec of the Land Transportation Office Central Visayas (LTO-7) believed he was the one alluded to by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque as a local official in the Visayas who pocketed millions of pesos through corruption.

“Let us cut to the chase. He is referring to me as the director. But if he is going to accuse me of being corrupt, then I demand that I be given a fair chance to present everything that is in our possession. So we will know who is corrupt,” he said.

Roque on Monday warned a transportation official in the Visayas to shape up amid allegations of corruption involving dirty deals worth millions of pesos.

He was reacting to reports of anomalies in the release of motorcycle plates from the LTO when he brought up the issue in Cagayan de Oro City.

Caindec said there was pressure from higher-ups to stop a local investigation, which discovered a large scale tax evasion on motorcycle dealerships.

One of those pressures to halt the probe came from Roque, whom Caindec said is a former associate of the lawyer of the car dealer, which was subject to the investigation of LTO-7.

“I got a call from the Assistant Secretary (Edgar Galvante) telling me to fix the problem because Secretary Roque called. I got that to mean that must be good news initially because then the issue is now in the perspective of higher government officials. Apparently, in a series of other calls, there seems to be pressure on my side to no longer continue with the investigations,” Caindec said.

“The night before this, I got a call from a senior government official, saying that he got a call from Secretary Roque asking that I should be fired because I am extremely corrupt. We are the only LTO regional office investigating a dealership. I am the only director, to my opinion, that refused a bribe offer, which led to this intensive investigation,” he added.

Caindec said he was even bribed by a motorcycle dealer in February, which he refused, and instead launched an intensive investigation into the car registration processes in the LTO-7.

The investigation, according to Caindec, uncovered that some dealers are selling motorcycles even before these are registered, misreporting of the venue of the sale of the vehicle, and the use of different sets of invoices or receipts that would allow the payment of lower taxes.

Caindec said that these acts have been going on in the LTO-7 offices and his investigation antagonized several stakeholders.

He said the dealer based in Cagayan De Oro City is out to get him out of the LTO-7 because of what he uncovered. He said there were even press releases against him.

“It is unfair that since we are doing what is right, now they turned the tables against us and accuse us of being corrupt,” said Caindec.

Caindec asked Roque: “Why make the statement in Cagayan de Oro? The PR wire came from Cagayan de Oro. The chairman of the motorcycle dealership group is also based and residing in Cagayan de Oro. Wouldn’t that deserve a fair answer for me?

“Why am I reacting? First, it is unfair for such a statement to drag an entire organization without being specific to who he is alluding to. Second, the mere fact that you are or somebody with a high-level rank in government making a statement that affects the credibility of the LTO as an organization. I don’t think the LTO should be treated that way.”

In the course of the LTO-7 investigation on the motorcycle dealer, Caindec said they have been harassed with hundreds of demand letters from the law firm.

“One of the law firms that sent us the demand letters was a former law firm of Secretary Roque.”

Caindec said he serves under the pleasure of the President and he already informed Sen. Bong Go and Secretary Michael Dino of the information he uncovered on massive tax evasion from the dealerships.