When new Land Transportation Office (LTO) Assistant Secretary, Atty. Jay Art Tugade assumed office earlier this month, he vowed to intensify the agency’s campaign against overloaded trucks, as well as continue their road safety advocacies and fight against corruption. As a result, a lot of LTO personnel are visible on the road where they enforce the traffic rules of the land.
Unfortunately, there are enterprising officers who want to make a few bucks out of traffic violators.
Just recently, the LTO summoned four of its enforcers for an alleged extortion case that happened in Bulacan. A team of Law Enforcement Officers from the LTO’s Field Enforcement Division (FED) were shown in a viral video on social media allegedly trying to extort money worth PHP 8,000.00 from a motorist, who was flagged down at an LTO checkpoint in Bocaue, Bulacan going towards the Philippine Arena.
LTO chief, Jay Art Tugade, already ordered that the four enforcers be relieved from their duties pending the investigation.
The enforcers, who were aboard LTO Mobile #14 with plate number SHS 234 as seen on the video, were already summoned to appear at the office of the Law Enforcement Services (LES) at the LTO Central Office along East Avenue in Quezon City yesterday for further investigation.
As the investigation is already underway, LTO chief Tugade promised to get to the bottom of this extortion incident involving LTO law enforcement officers.
Once their wrongdoing is proven, Tugade said they will be immediately stripped of their duties as law enforcers and the Agency will pursue the filing of administrative cases against the officers, including recommending possible criminal charges.
“I have repeatedly said that I will not condone corruption at LTO both at the LTO offices and on the field. The campaign against corruption is one of the earliest initiatives I undertook upon assumption into office. There will be zero tolerance on corruption!” says Tugade.
He said they will continue to pursue their relentless campaign to weed out personnel engaged in fixing and other illegal activities at the LTO. He likewise thanked concerned netizens for reporting the incident via social media.
“These enforcers would have probably gotten scot-free had it not been for the vigilance of our netizens so we would like to thank them. I hope that those who may want to get involved or are already involved in illegal activities better think about it first because now, not only the LTO but also the netizens, are watching them,” he added.
