A total of 175 aluminum sheets used in making vehicle license plates also disappeared from the Land Transportation Office’s Plate Making Plant (PMP) last year.
And just like this year’s incident which involved the loss of 10,000 plates and 1,250 aluminum sheets, the theft was discovered the Monday after the Holy Week break.
The only difference between the two cases was that the first one was not reported to the police.
The Inquirer learned this from the chief of the private security detachment at the LTO main office on East Avenue, Quezon City, even as police investigators said they requested footage from the closed-circuit television camera positioned in front of the PMP.
The probers were told, however, that the camera has not been functional despite last year’s theft.
Security officer Lope Mahilum said 175 aluminum sheets were declared missing by Clarissa Ogsimer after an accounting on April 6, 2015, the Monday following the four-day Holy Week break.
These details were in the report submitted to Norberto Espino III, chief of the general services section. Mahilum, however, said that the incident was not reported to the police.
On March 28, the first working day after Holy Week, PMP chief Rogelio Buduan and foreman Raul Reyes reported the disappearance of 1,250 aluminum sheets and 10,000 cut plates. Each uncut sheet can produce four license plates—the type issued as replacements for lost plates.
This time, however, when the theft reached the office of recently appointed LTO Chief Roberto Cabrera, he ordered Buduan to inform the police. Cabrera also asked the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the incident and created a Special Task Force of regional directors and internal auditors.
On Thursday, employees of the PMP went to the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit to give their statements. The entire 19-member unit has been relieved pending an investigation, while the guards have also been asked to give statements to the QCPD.