Leave of absence up to Torres, says DOTC secretary

LTO chief Virginia Torres in a YouTube video. YOUTUBE GRAB

MANILA, Philippines—It’s up to Land Transportation Office chief Virginia Torres to go on leave or stay at her post while she is being investigated for going to a casino when government officials are expressly forbidden to do so.

Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Abaya made the statement even as he told reporters there would be no coverup in the probe into Torres’ supposed gambling activities. Torres has yet to file a leave of absence.

A YouTube video, which went viral last month, showed Torres—or someone who looked like her—sitting in front of a slot machine, her feet propped up on its base, and working the controls on a touch screen.

Torres admitted in a television interview that she went to a casino “way back” and sat in front of a slot machine, but only to read the instructions after she was drawn to it by the flashing lights.

Under a 2001 government memorandum circular, heads of agencies and departments are prohibited from going to casinos.

Abaya said it was up to Torres  to temporarily leave her post, as it was in the case of MRT head Al Vitangcol III who voluntarily took a leave of absence pending an investigation into his involvement in an alleged extort try on Czech train manufacturer Inekon Group.

“We’re not forcing anyone [to do anything],” Abaya told reporters during a break in the House budget hearing on the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) budget, when asked about Torres.

“Did I advise her? It’s hard advising people when she’s more of a bureaucrat. I leave it to her wisdom, what’s the best judgment,” he said.

Abaya said that Torres wrote to him, asking that the issue be investigated, but he replied that the DOTC had already begun a probe “right off the bat,” without being told or asked by anyone to do so.

During the budget hearing, Torres was asked about the matter and she said she was ready to be investigated, citing her request to Abaya for a probe.

But she also said that the YouTube video was taken with ill intent.

“If you will look at it, it (the video) was done with malice,” she said.