DOJ clears LTO chief in car theft case

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has cleared Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Virginia Torres in a two-year-old complaint filed by the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) linking her in the illegal registration of a vehicle.

Confirming an earlier report of The STAR, the DOJ released Thursday an 11-page resolution dismissing the charges of falsification of public documents under Articles 171 and 172 of Revised Penal Code against Torres for “utter lack of merit.”

The resolution approved by Chief State Prosecutor Claro Arellano said PNP-HPG Cordillera had no proof in alleging that Torres was involved in the illegal registration of a reported stolen Mitsubishi Pajero.

This developed as investigating fiscal Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong attested to a claim of Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III that he did not withhold release of the resolution purportedly due to personal issues with Torres.

Ong said the charges should have been dismissed as early as 2009 if only the PNP-HPG checked on the documents. He also cleared two other respondents, Dimsy Yap and Samuel Fernandez, from whom the stolen vehicle was recovered by PNP-HPG operatives in April 2009.

Ong said the two falsified documents – Official Receipt No. 54927584 issued by LTO Roxas district office and Certificate Of Registration No. 57071384 issued by LTO Tarlac district office – were issued on Sept.19, 1997 and June 7, 1999, respectively, and Torres was not yet head of either office at that time.

He said Torres was charged because she signed the registration of the vehicle when it was sold to its third owners, couple Arnel and Cheryl Lou Sicat, in February 2008 when she was already head of LTO Tarlac.

“It appears that the falsification of document was committed either in 1997 or 1999. On the part of Torres, negligence is not an element in the crime charged because falsification requires willful intent to deceive,” Ong stressed.

Ong’s resolution is dated Feb. 24, 2011, meaning it was released after one month. He said there is nothing irregular with this, attributing the delay to the time taken by his superiors reviewing his resolution.

He said allegations that Baraan withheld the release of the resolution by keeping the case folder in his office was not true: “He never instructed me anything. Neither did Secretary (Leila) de Lima.”

Baraan denied the allegation and insinuations that he was attacking Torres personally because she has been in conflict with businessman Cesar Quiambao of LTO’s IT provider Stradcom Corp.

He believes the allegation aims to discredit findings of their fact-finding panel against Torres in connection with the illegal takeover of Stradcom in December last year.

Baraan again denied that he has links with Quiambao. De Lima, for her part, defended Baraan and even said she would order an investigation on the leakage of the resolution despite her pronouncement that she never intervenes in preliminary investigation of cases in the DOJ.