Suspected carjacking ring financier yields

The suspected financier of a carjacking ring surrendered to authorities yesterday to clear his name and deny involvement in illegal activities.

Jose "Jayjay" de los Santos III was accompanied by his father Dr. Jose de los Santos, their lawyer Rey Francisco and Mila Arnaldo, president of the Loyola Grand Villas Subdivision, when he met with Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes at the DILG office in Kamuning, Quezon City.

"I decided to come out to clear my name. I don’t have anything to do with carnapping," said the younger De los Santos, whose family owns the De los Santos General Hospital in Quezon City.

Reyes turned over De los Santos to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Arturo Lomibao, who ordered Traffic Management Group (TMG) director Chief Superintendent Augusto Angcanan to conduct an investigation.

TMG operatives admitted that they have no other information to pin De los Santos other than the statement given by suspected carjackers Patrick Dominic Tuzon and Maurice Valenton, who were arrested in a buy-bust operation by the TMG on Nov. 17.

Tuzon and Valenton were arrested while attempting to sell a stolen Nissan Patrol to an undercover TMG officer for P850,000. The SUV, worth P2 million, had been forcibly taken from the driver of TV host Regina "Iya" Villania early this month.

"We are here to accept the voluntary submission of Jayjay de los Santos III. We are heartened by this development," said Reyes, who called on others implicated to cooperate with authorities. "We want to deliver the message that people who are implicated or who have outstanding warrants for their arrest that if you come forward we will accept your surrender. If there is a warrant for your arrest, we will arrest you, if you resist arrest and you place the safety and the lives of the policemen in danger then they have the authority, the obligation to defend themselves."

Reyes, chief of the National Anti-Crime Task Force (NACTAF), said De los Santos, who had posted bail in an estafa case in La Union with a pending warrant of arrest issued by Judge Robert Cawit of Branch 29 of San Fernando, will be investigated by the TMG.

"The campaign against carjacking will continue and our instruction to our law enforcement agencies is to go all out in the campaign. We will not stop until carjacking is eliminated from the community," he said.

Meanwhile, Arnaldo, homeowner president of the Royal Grand Villas Subdivision in Marikina City, said police and other law enforcement agencies are welcome to enter the subdivision, but must be armed with proper documents.

De los Santos is a resident of the subdivision.

She said that all the homeowners want is peace in their community and they are willing to cooperate with law enforcers

"But they must understand that we also want to protect members of the community against any harassment," she said.

LTO reviewing computer system

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is now reviewing the security and the integrity of its IT system to determine possible loopholes after registration of Villania’s stolen vehicle was allowed to be registered under another name.

Sources at the LTO said officials and the IT management company hired by the agency recently held a meeting and conducted a thorough system on processes involving the registration of all vehicles.

"They tried to check if there were any loopholes in the system," the source said.

"All vehicles being registered at the LTO main office as well as in other branches are placed in the database of the agency. If there were any stolen vehicles, the agency would know about it," the source said.

Information in the registration include the name of the owner of the registered vehicle, the license plate number and chassis number.

LTO chief Assistant Secretary Anneli Lontoc has ordered all LTO district heads to conduct stricter measures in the registration of vehicles especially second-hand units.

Measures include stricter rules on the use of passwords in LTO computer systems as well as agency codes to prevent dishonest employees from using them to process the registration of stolen vehicles.

Lontoc has also ordered LTO district heads to put initial technical measures in place while waiting for the results of a probe on several LTO personnel allegedly involved in the registration of stolen vehicles.

All LTO officials and personnel have been alerted to watch out for fake documents presented during registration of vehicles. – With Sandy Araneta