Palace won’t sack LTO chief over casino visit

MANILA, Philippines - Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Virginia Torres, who admitted that she was the person caught on video playing slot machine at a casino, could not be relieved without due process, Malacañang said yesterday.

“(Transportation and Communications) Secretary Jun Abaya will provide the due process. We’ll look into it first. Of course, (she) will be asked. That is the process, you cannot just axe immediately,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said at a press briefing.

He said Abaya has supervision over the LTO.

Lacierda said he has not spoken with President Aquino about the issue, but assured the public that Torres would not be given special treatment.

The video of Torres’ casino visit was recently posted on YouTube and immediately went viral.

Memorandum Circular 8 issued in 2001 prohibits government officials, rank-and-file employees, soldiers and policemen from going to casinos.

The heads of agencies would impose the necessary penalty on erring personnel under the memorandum.

Out of curiosity

Torres said she went to the casino after having dinner with a friend, adding that she played the slot machine out of curiosity.

“While waiting for the bill to be settled, I saw the slot machine on the lower floor and out of curiosity, I sat in front of one machine and marveled at the lights and read the instructions,” she was quoted in a report at abscbnnews.com.

The report also quoted Torres as saying that she immediately left when the bill was paid and that the incident occurred “way back.”

On Wednesday, Torres denied rumors that she was leaving the LTO, saying she could have been misinterpreted when she thanked LTO employees during their flag-raising ceremony last July 8.

She said it marked her third year in office and she just thanked them for their support.

The LTO chief said she was aware that like all presidential appointees, she could be replaced anytime. She said she would stay on in the agency for as long as the President wants her there.

Torres had faced several challenges to her leadership of the agency, among them the much publicized rift with the LTO’s IT provider Stradcom Corp., whose contract with the agency had recently expired.

Ethical issues

Meanwhile, Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing and Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna in separate statements said Torres is aware that as a public official, she should not be seen in a casino.

“There are ethical issues here. As public officials, we all know that we are not supposed to be there,” Bagatsing said.

Bagatsing said the circumstances behind the video should also be determined, noting that “she might just have been invited or is not a regular patron.”

He added that Torres was apparently just playing with slot machines “and not table games, where you can lose big.”

Tugna said Torres should explain her side and not brush aside the controversy. – With Paolo Romero, Reinir Padua