Drive vs motor theft boosted

CEBU, Philippines — Outgoing Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos expressed optimism that motorcycle theft and even carnapping cases will finally be cut down, if not eradicated, following the signing of agreement between the Philippine National Police and the Land Transportation Office on inter-connectivity.

Abalos who is on his final stretch as DILG chief following the President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s endorsement for him to run as senator in the elections next year, said he is happy to note that both organizations have continued to forge a partnership to solve crimes in the country.

The PNP is under the DILG while LTO, which under the Department of Transportation, is led by one of Abalos’ close friends, Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza.

The PNP and the LTO’s latest memorandum of agreement “forges interconnectivity of their respective information and communications technology (ICT) systems.”

Abalos stressed that the PNP-LTO tie-up is vital as the motorcycle theft cases alone have reached an alarming number of 30,000 every year nationwide.

PNP Chief Rommel Francisco Marbil even described motorcycle theft as a “heinous crime.”

“With the new memorandum of understanding between the two law enforcement agency, we are so happy…. Sana po mabawasan natin ang mga motornapping natin and in the long run mawala na po yan. Dahil ito po talaga ay traditional crime and one of tinatawag naming heinous crime po yan,” he said.

“Dahil pinaghirapan po ng tao ang motor talaga. A kind of livelihood po yan.  Parang kalabaw po yun. Dati pag nagnakaw ka ng kalabaw, ninakawan po nyo nang kabuhayan yung tao. Ganun din po yung motor,” he added.

Marbil thanked LTO for such cooperation in preventing motor and carnapping.

With the PNP-LTO agreement, authorities can now immediately verify if a motorcycle is stolen or not. Previously, verification process can even take months.

“Isipin mo, getting information from LTO direkta sa pulis. Noong araw, susulat ang pulis. It will take one month, two months,” Abalos said.

The PNP-Highway Patrol Group (HPG) can now have access to the LTO ICT system on the motorcycle records, which they are investigating a unit or have placed on under alarm.

A PNP-HPG will be assigned at the LTO Command Center to speed up the verification and retrieval of information, like the certificate of registration and official receipt of the motorcycle.

Aside from that, records of registration history concerning transfer of ownership and encumbrances and other vital information for investigation can now be easily retrieved.

The PNP will also allow LTO to validate motor vehicle clearance certificate (MVCC)to ensure that its registration is valid and not fake.

Said validation is done by uploading MVCCs to the LTO IT system.

“Yung mga taong bibili na kailangan ng PNP clearance, kung minsan, it will take one week, yung common na bibili and with this kind of agreement, ang bilis na lang nito, it will just take hours probably to get clearance,” Abalos said.

He also said that the cooperation between the PNP and LTO will continue to be strengthened through the formation of a technical working group because both agencies acknowledged that they could do more.

“Just imagine, a simple memorandum of agreement, what it could do on the ground…. But my dear friends, this is only the tip of the iceberg. We can do so much. Mas marami pa tayong magagawa. All that we do is sit down, make a checklist kung anong mga dahilan kung bakit bumabagal at baka hindi natin alam, napaka-simple ng solusyon,” Abalos said.

He also suggested that every quarter or at least twice a year, the PNP and the LTO would sit down together and list down the things that needs cooperation, and even invite other concerned agencies and other stakeholders “to broaden the perspective”. — (FREEMAN)