INTERIOR Secretary Ronaldo Puno yesterday ordered the PNP
Traffic Management Group to investigate the possible involvement in car theft of
officials of the Land Transportation Office and the Subic Bay Metropolitan
Authority.
Puno's order to TMG director Chief Supt Perfecto Palad came
after reports reached him that a number of vehicles stolen in Metro Manila and
elsewhere had been registered and sold in the Visayas and Mindanao regions. He
said the "Luzviminda" syndicate could not have operated as far as those places
without help from regional officers or employes of LTO and even those from SBMA.
"I don't care who gets hurt in the process, even if these are
ranking government officials. Wala tayong sasantuhin dito," Puno said.
From Feb. 24 to March 13 this year, the TMG recovered more
than 40 stolen luxury vehicles being sold as brand new ones, some even displayed
in car showrooms, in Davao and Cagayan de Oro. Other cars were passed off as
imported ones shipped through the Subic Freeport.
Puno said the vehicles' tampered documents originated from
regional offices of the LTO and from the SBMA, raising the possibility of
government employes or officials being involved in the operations of this
carjacking group.
Palad said the recovered vehicles were mostly stolen at
gunpoint in Metro Manila and hidden in various parts in Luzon while their papers
were being processed in regional LTO offices in the Visayas and Mindanao. "Once
the fake papers are completed, these hot cars are then sold, usually in the
Visayas and Mindanao," Palad said.
TMG said the LTO offices in Toledo City in Cebu, Bislig in Surigao del Sur
and Molave, Zamboanga del Sur were the main sources of the license plates and
registration papers for the stolen vehicles. Others are the LTO offices in
Polomolok, South Cotabato and in Patinga-ay and Tubod towns in Lanao del Norte,
Tagbilaran City in Bohol, and Marawi City. - Raymond Africa
