Palace mum on reason of LTO chief's retirement

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang confirmed Monday that controversial Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Virginia Torres is retiring from the service but could not say whether the move was related to the issues hounding her.

Citing a text message by Transportation Sec. Joseph Abaya, Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Torres decided to retire since she is already eligible to do so.

“I’ve spoken to Asec. Virgie Torres. She met up with the President and I also had a chance to meet with her after. She has volunteered to file for retirement since she’s already eligible to retire,” Lacierda quoted Abaya as saying.

Lacierda said Torres’ retirement would take effect at the end of the month. He could not elaborate on the circumstances behind the retirement of Torres, a shooting buddy of the president.

Lacierda also declined to speculate whether Torres’ decision to retire was related to the controversies hounding her.

When asked whether Torres’ departure from government service is a big loss to the administration, Lacierda said: “Certainly, she has been part of our administration since day one. She has been doing her job but she has opted to retire, considering that her retirement is nearing soon.”

“She has been doing her job as LTO head and we commend her for that,” Lacierda added.

When asked how he would describe Torres’ stint in LTO, Lacierda said he would leave the matter to Abaya since he does not deal with her on a daily basis.

Torres has been dragged in several controversies during her three-year stint as LTO chief.

She has been accused of conniving with one of the groups involved in a dispute in LTO’s information technology (IT) provider, Stradcom Corp.

Torres had refused to pay Stradcom P4 billion in services rendered since 2010 due to a corporate dispute between Cezar Quiambao and the group led by Bonifacio Sumbilla.

The LTO chief was accused of conniving with Sumbilla’s group during the forcible takeover of the Stradcom IT system in 2010.

The Supreme Court has favored Quiambao in the row, saying the Sumbilla group’s ownership claim over Stradcom was just a nuisance and harassment suit.

Quiambao’s group wants Torres held accountable for the supposed damages caused by the withholding of payments to Stradcom.

Torres faced another controversy when videos showing her playing with a slot machine inside a casino surfaced on the Internet.

Memorandum circular no. 8 issued in 2001 bars government officials from entering and playing in casinos.