The Land Transportation Office San Carlos City District in Negros Occidental has issued a show-cause order against a 35-year-old woman accused of promoting a “paluwagan” scheme on Facebook to expedite the issuance of student permits and non-professional driver’s licenses.
The suspect allegedly offered fixed fees and minimal requirements for LTO transactions, falsely presenting legitimacy by posting an image of an official LTO license and a photo taken in front of an LTO office.
LTO San Carlos District chief, Robbie Andutan, accompanied by personnel from her office, personally served the show-cause order early morning Monday, July 7.
The woman has been given five calendar days from receipt of the notice to submit a written explanation to the LTO Regional Office VI-Intelligence and Investigation Unit.
“You are neither employed by LTO Region 6 nor authorized to conduct or facilitate such transactions on behalf of this agency,” the order, reviewed and approved by LTO6 director, Atty. Gaudioso Geduspan II, said.
The LTO has been spearheading the campaign against fixers and fraudulent transactions, and has ramped up intelligence-led enforcement operations, public education drives, and inter-agency coordination to deter unauthorized facilitators and improve the integrity of licensing services.
LTO acting chief, Atty. Greg Pua Jr., also ordered all agency enforcers to further intensify the operations against colorum vehicles.
Pua issued the order after an operation report in June showed that 252 colorum vehicles were apprehended across the country. “Either we are successful in discouraging operators of colorum vehicles to do their illegal activity, or they are finding ways to elude arrest.”
He also issued a memorandum which states that even if the penalty is paid, only a court order will be able to release impounded vehicles for colorum violation, the LTO said in a statement.
He said that colorum vehicles have no insurance in case of road crashes, which means that passengers will have to shoulder everything on their own, compared to legitimate PUVs which has up to P400,000 insurance in case of death, and P100,000 for injuries. The anti-colorum operation was also aimed at assisting legitimate transport operators, who are losing 30 percent of their income every day to colorum vehicles, the LTO added. ||
