Maserati ‘bully’ loses driver’s license

MANILA, Philippines–The Maserati-driving businessman accused of punching a traffic enforcer of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will not be getting behind the wheel of any vehicle anytime soon.

Acting on a complaint filed by the MMDA, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has revoked for an indefinite period of time the driver’s license of Joseph Russel Ingco and ordered him to pay a fine of P30,000.

LTO spokesman Jason Salvador told the Inquirer on Sunday that the agency issued two resolutions against Ingco on Friday, one of them on the MMDA’s call for the revocation of his driver’s license and the other, for driving an unregistered vehicle—a pricey blue Maserati Ghibli—at the time he allegedly punched MMDA traffic enforcer Jorbe Adriatico.

Salvador said that the LTO fined Ingco P30,000—P10,000 for the commission of a crime in the course of apprehension, P10,000 for being apprehended for reckless driving for the fifth time, and another P10,000 for driving an unregistered vehicle.

According to the LTO spokesman, Ingco has five days to contest the resolutions before the Traffic Adjudication Service. Based on his defense, the agency may reverse or uphold its decision to revoke his driver’s license.

Earlier, Adriatico accused Ingco of ignoring him when he tried to stop the businessman from making an illegal left turn on Araneta Avenue in Quezon City on Nov. 27.

As the traffic enforcer was recording Ingco’s actions on his cell phone, the businessman drove back, snatched his cell phone and threw it into his vehicle, Adriatico said.

He added that Ingco grabbed him by the collar and then stepped on the gas, forcing him to run alongside the vehicle for several meters. As he did so, Ingco punched him, broke his nose and threatened to kill him before driving away.

Adriatico has already filed multiple criminal complaints in the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office against the businessman, namely for grave threats, serious physical injuries, direct assault on a person of authority and robbery.

Ingco was easily identified as police investigators learned there were only six Maseratis that had been sold in the Philippines and just two of these were blue.

An LTO check later turned up the information that the sports car he was driving at that time had yet to be registered. “This was based on documents we gathered. They only tried to register the vehicle on Nov. 28,” Salvador said.

The Maserati had a conduction sticker at the time of the incident but Salvador explained: “A conduction sticker is not proof of registration. A conduction sticker is meant only to give manufacturers time to transport the car to the dealer,” he said.

He added that the LTO had also issued a show-cause order to the Maserati dealer to explain why the car remained unregistered more than seven days after it was sold.

The resolution acting on the MMDA request noted that based on LTO records as well as those of the Galas police in Quezon City, Ingco was cited for reckless driving on Jan. 14, 2004, May 30, 2011, Sept. 14, 2012, and Jan. 15, 2014.

“In this case, the act of dragging the enforcer while driving the vehicle clearly constitutes reckless driving,” the resolution said, referring to the Nov. 27 incident.

Under Joint Administrative Order 2014-01, the penalties for committing a crime in the act of apprehension and for reckless driving are a P10,000 fine for each offense on top of the revocation of the erring driver’s license.

The resolution further showed that Ingco was issued his nonprofessional driver’s license on Feb. 13, 2014. It was set to expire on June 21, 2016.

As for the resolution penalizing Ingco for driving an unregistered vehicle, it was shown that Ingco bought the 2014 Maserati Ghibli S Q4 from Formula Sports Inc. in Makati on Nov. 24 for P4.258 million.

The sales invoice showed that there was an attempt to register the vehicle on Nov. 28, a day after Ingco’s encounter with Adriatico, the resolution noted.

“It is clear that at the time of the incident, the said motor vehicle is not registered with the [LTO],” it said.

“[There are numerous] instances [in which] vehicles running on public highways caused accidents or injuries to pedestrians or other vehicles without positive identification of the owner or drivers…. Such is the reason why the act of driving an unregistered motor vehicle…. is curtailed,” it stressed.

The resolutions were signed by investigator Racy Aurelio Valencia and Roberto Valera, officer-in-charge of the LTO Intelligence and Investigation Division and approved by LTO Assistant Secretary Alfonso Tan Jr.