Accomplices

If half of what is said about the Dominguez brothers is true, this particular carjacking syndicate has been very efficient indeed. It could not have been so without accomplices entrenched in the bureaucracy, police forces and possibly even the justice system.

According to reports, the Dominguez brothers have been charged and managed to post bail 42 times. Surely they could not have been falsely accused or wrongly charged 42 times over. If we are trying to imagine what impunity means, here is a most vivid example.

The phenomenal bail record of the Dominguez brothers distressed our lawmakers. Their response, of course, is to propose legislation denying bail for the crime.

That is well and good — although probably not the core of the problem. For as long as carjacking is a profitable enterprise, there will be enough rascals venturing into it. If the police and the judges are corruptible, the criminal enterprise will be viable.

To be sure, carjackers do not grab high-end vehicles only to scuttle them and sell the nuts and bolts in the low-end “surplus parts” market. That is for the low-life who steal side-mirrors and hubcaps. Surely it will not yield the income that will sustain the lifestyles of known carjackers; surely not enough profit at stake to warrant murdering victims after taking their vehicles. It will not produce enough cash flow to corrupt police officers, fiscals and land transport officials.

If victims like Lozano and Evangelista are murdered after their vehicles have been seized, there must be a truly compelling business model to do so.

Secretary Jessie Robredo admitted that corrupt public officers must surely be involved with the carjacking syndicates. He states the obvious.

Of course, corrupt public officers are involved with the syndicates. How else could the common criminals operate with such impunity? How else could the crime be so profitable one would be willing to murder for it?

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the key element in the business model of carjacking high-end vehicles is the ability to alter their registration documents and plate numbers. If there is a little more integrity in the vehicle identification and documentation, carjacking will cease to be a viable criminal enterprise.

In this age of digital information technologies, it is a great wonder that vehicle registration in this country continues to be primeval. In the last analysis, this is the flaw behind the scourge of murderous carjacking syndicates.

The solution, therefore, lies in improving the integrity of our vehicle registration and documentation process — not in any lawyerly device such as withdrawing bail for the offense.

If DILG Secretary Jessie Robredo and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima are truly interested in uncovering a comprehensive solution to the solution of murderous carjacking, they must begin with curing the vulnerabilities at the LTO. This appears to be the key to the proliferation of carjacking incidents.

Take the case of the May 7, 2009 report of the PNP Highway Patrol Group Cordillera regarding the recovery of a carjacked Mitsubishi Pajero. This case perfectly illustrates why carjacking has become the murderous scourge it now is.

The stolen vehicle was originally registered at the LTO Roxas, Isabela. The person in possession of the stolen vehicle when it was recovered by the police is a resident of Bayabas Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Pajero was originally registered in Isabela and then “owned” by a resident of Benguet, the vehicle was provided documentation by the LTO Tarlac office. Investigators found out that the file number for the Pajero’s new registration was officially issued to a Honda motorcycle owned by a resident of Victoria, Tarlac.

LTO Tarlac did not only “borrow” the file number of a motorcycle to provide documentary cover for the stolen Pajero. LTO Tarlac issued a personalized plate number (RJP 111) to the stolen vehicle — even if district offices of the LTO had no authority to issue personalized plates. The connivance here is glaring.

With its brand new plate number and apparently regular documentation, the stolen vehicle could now be sold by the thieves in the open market. With the use of RFID technology shelved ostensibly because of consumer objections, it will now be difficult for the police to properly identify a stolen vehicle casually passing by on the road.

The basic procedure for transferring the registration of a vehicle such as this particular Pajero calls for the LTO Tarlac district office to request for confirmation from the LTO office where it was originally registered. Before investigators, LTO Tarlac admitted this basic confirmation procedure was not observed. Not only was confirmation not done, the LTO Tarlac even issued a personalized plate number to the new “owner” without a certificate of registration. The registration file, as mentioned above, was inserted into the motorcycle’s folder.

This is more than just a lazy lapse in procedures. It strongly suggests connivance in criminal activities. The PNP was right in implicating the officers of LTO Tarlac in this particular case of “mis-registration.”

Now things get really interesting.

The head of the Tarlac LTO at this time is an agency insider named Virginia Torres. The same person now holds the rank of assistant secretary, having been appointed by President Aquino to head the entire LTO.

This is the very same Virginia Torres who participated in that bizarre forceful takeover of the Stradcom office last December and who avoided appearing before the DOJ inquiry into the case.

If President Aquino wants to get the larger picture about the scourge of murderous carjacking incidents of late, it might do well to begin by asking his appointee Virginia Torres more than a few questions.