DILG clears LTO chief in registration snafu

MANILA, Philippines—An interagency task force has cleared embattled Land Transportation Office chief Virginia Torres of any complicity in the alleged fraudulent registration of a sports utility vehicle in Tarlac, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said Tuesday.

Speaking with reporters in Camp Crame, Robredo said the joint Department of the Interior and Local Government and Department of Justice task force also exonerated Director Roberto Rosales of purportedly coddling car theft syndicates.

The panel was created to look into the reported collusion among government officials and car thieves in facilitating the registration of stolen vehicles.

According to Robredo, Torres only signed the renewal registration of the Mitsubishi Pajero in 2009 since the vehicle was already registered three times before.

At the time, Torres was still the chief of the LTO office in Tarlac.

“While it was true that the serial number of the original registration of the Pajero was taken from a motorcycle, she only signed the renewal of an old registration,” Robredo told reporters.

“Was she in a position to verify the previous registrations? That’s the question there. When she signed those documents, I think there was a presumption of regularity,” he added.

Robredo said the DILG-DOJ technical working group based its findings on the documents regarding the 2009 registration of the SUV, some of which were presented by Torres herself.

The interior secretary said the task force, meanwhile, recommended the filing of criminal charges against 13 LTO officials who allegedly facilitated the registration of the SUV using spurious documents.

He said the panel might also summon Torres’ predecessor, who he identified only as a certain Leonilos.

As to the case of Rosales, Robredo said there was no material evidence linking the chief of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations for Northern Luzon to the operations of car thieves.

He noted that the Armed Forces had denied the existence of an intelligence report purportedly identifying Rosales as a protector of the Dominguez car theft gang.

“There was no allegation that General Rosales used a stolen vehicle which could be a basis to have him investigated. There was also no paper trail or other physical evidence against him,” Robredo said.

He surmised that Rosales was implicated in the car theft issue because of his close association with Superintendent Napoleon Cauyan, who was accused of coddling the Dominguez car theft syndicate.