Remember the Zamboanga street racers who went viral on social media? Thanks to their vlogger companion and the hundreds of riders who re-uploaded the race video, the Land Transportation Office Region 9 was able to quickly track them down and suspended their driving privileges. Then, after forwarding their recommendation to LTO chief, Edgar Galvante, the driver’s licenses of the three involved were perpetually revoked by the agency, just a week after the illegal street race.
Let’s face it, with tight resources including a small number of personnel, the LTO could use the help of netizens. With similar incidents being caught on video or photos, the LTO has recognized the power of social media (and the internet) to help them find and rid the streets of ‘pasaway’ or unruly drivers and riders.
To encourage the public to help clean up the streets, the LTO has launched the “Maging INFORM-CER” (be an Inform-cer) program. “Inform-cer” is a portmanteau of the words informer and enforcer, as a way to encourage civilians to be LTO’s traffic enforcers by informing the agency of motorists who are violating traffic laws.
How to report an incident?
Reporting an incident is easy. A report can be sent to the LTO’s Digital Media Public Assistance Office in two ways. The first option is by sending the report through any of the LTO’s official social media pages, including the official social media pages of their regional offices.
The second option is by sending an email to [email protected].
To better help the LTO pinpoint the traffic violator, it is best to include information such as the description of the incident; vehicle details like plate number/conduction sticker/mv file number for motorcycles, description of the vehicle (color/make/model/etc); location of the incident, date and time. For viral videos or vlogs that were uploaded depicting blatant disregard for traffic rules, the LTO would appreciate it if you can also send them a screenshot and/or a link to the video.
Thinking of committing a traffic violation? No CCTVs or traffic enforcers? Think again. Someone’s phone camera might serve as LTO’s eyes.
