Rivera relieves 3 LTO men in hot car listing

Transportation Secretary Vicente Rivera Jr. has ordered the relief of three district officers of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) who are being investigated for the registration of "hot cars," one of which was seized from the theft gang "Valle Verde Boys."

Sacked were Edgardo Devesa, of LTO-Pasig City; Rey Mendoza, of LTO-Manila East and Rodolfo Panganiban, of LTO-Pasay City. They were replaced by their respective assistants and are now on "floating status."

Lawyer Percival Sendena, LTO legal division chief, said as a standard operation procedure, the three were relieved from their posts while the investigation is going on.

The three were placed under hot water after the LTO-National Capital Region found that 18 stolen vehicles had been registered with their respective districts.

One of these vehicles was a Mitsubishi Pajero recovered by the police from the gang of Florencio Fianza Jr., son and namesake of Metro Manila’s former traffic czar. This was listed in Devesa’s district.

Sendena, however, refused to comment if the three were, indeed, in cahoots with carnapping gangs pending the results of the investigation.

"The investigation is still going on. We still have to establish whether they are guilty or not. We have to try them individually and not in package," he noted.

In an earlier interview, LTO-NCR director Danilo Mangila explained that the carnapped vehicles could have been registered using the confirmation certificates stolen from the LTO-Central Office in December last year.

These certificates are issued to car dealers or sellers to attest that the vehicles were properly obtained by the owners.

Mangila added that LTO district officers have been properly informed about these missing certificates so they should have strictly reviewed all applications for registration. – Sheila Crisostomo