Tanods arrest "bogus" LTO agent

CEBU, Philippines - A bogus agent of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) was arrested by tanods at noontime yesterday, minutes after he extorted P200 from a driver he “apprehended” for a traffic violation along Manalili Street.

“Wala ta’y mahimo, priso g’yud ta ani,” said Rickie P. Rivas when he was interviewed by news reporters after he was brought to the office of Cebu City Traffic Chief Andres Bayarcal.

Rivas, 31, was arrested by the tanods of Barangay Kalubihan who quickly responded to the call for assistance made by driver Epefanio Bacaro, 37, of Barangay San Nicolas.

Bacaro claimed that Rivas approached him and identified himself as an LTO agent. The driver was “apprehended” for illegal parking along Manalili Street at past 12 noon yesterday.

Rivas demanded for Bacaro’s driver’s license, but instead of issuing a temporary operators’ permit (TOP) to Bacaro, the bogus LTO agent demanded P200 from driver.

Bacaro gave P100 to Rivas, but the latter refused to accept. He even got in Bacaro’s Strada and compelled the driver to give him additional P100.

“Akong gikuha ang gihatag nako nga P100 ug giilisan nako og tibuok P200 mao kadto nga mikanaug siya didto sa Borromeo Street. Nangita ko’g polis aron ipadakop siya pero mga tanod maoy akong nakit-an og nagpatabang ko,” said Bacaro. (I got the P100 I initially gave him and changed it with a P200-bill so he got off at Borromeo St. I looked for a policeman but I saw the tanods so I asked help from them.)

At first, Bacaro believed that Rivas was really a deputized agent of LTO. But when he saw that Rivas was only wearing a pair of slippers, he suspected that the man was just an impostor.

Rivas was arrested by the responding tanods while walking along Borromeo Street. They recovered from him the P200 that was given to him by Bacaro, including a TOP stub and a driver’s license owned by Danilo Oral.

Rivas used to be a member of the LTO’s Task Force Alpha but his services was terminated in 2004 because of some questionable activities.

The police is expected to file against Rivas a complaint for usurpation of official functions with Bacaro as witness. — THE FREEMAN