LTO conducts probe on employees

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has revealed it was investigating four of its employees over the registration of a carjacked vehicle belonging to TV personality Iya Villania.

Villania, a host of an ABS-CBN noontime show, lost her Nissan Patrol to carjackers earlier this month. The vehicle was recovered by police last Nov. 17.

Police investigators said LTO documents showed the vehicle was now registered to another person.

LTO chief Assistant Secretary Anneli Lontoc said the agency hopes to release the results of the investigation in a week’s time.

She declined to identify the four LTO employees involved, but said they are from the Quezon City (P. Tuazon), Mandaluyong City and Malabon City offices.

The LTO chief said employees from the LTO Manila east office in Sta. Mesa, where the vehicle was registered, were not included since certain details are still being verified,

"What we have are just initial findings. The investigation is still ongoing. We can’t conclude with certainty yet if they are part of the loop," Lontoc said.

She had earlier ordered concerned LTO personnel to submit all documents presented when Villania’s vehicle had been registered using another name.

The TV host’s Patrol had been registered and given a new license plate, a day after it was stolen near the ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City last Nov. 6.

It was recovered on Nov. 17 by the Traffic Management Group’s Task Force Limbas during a buy-bust operation in Quezon City.