Doesn’t LTO have landline phones?

CEBU, Philippines - Since no one would listen to his complaint about the lack of telephones in most LTO offices in Region 7, Dr. Danilo Dionson, owner of a medical laboratory and drug testing center located near the LTO office, put up a big tarpaulin near the LTO Office in Mandaue that shows which LTO offices in the region have telephones and which offices do not have telephones.

“I made this tarp because I have long been complaining to this office (LTO Mandaue) for not having a telephone connection for almost three years now,” Dionson said.

He said LTO offices in Danao, Talisay, Toledo, Bayawan cities, Jagna and Talibon in Bohol also don’t have telephone connections.

Only LTO offices in Carcar, Lapu-Lapu, and Bais cities and Medellin town have telephone connections.

Dionson said office heads just offer their mobile numbers and have never made an effort to have telephone connections.

“The LTO is a public office and people must have access to it through the telephone also,” Dionson said.

But Dr. Dionson suspects this is done on purpose.

He alleged that without a landline phone, the public would be forced to go to the office, thus giving fixers the opportunity to make money.

Dionson alleged that the fixers might be running errands for some people in the office.

Early in 2011, through a letter, Dionson requested the LTO regional office for telephone connections but he received no response.

He wrote another letter, this time addressed to LTO Central office director Virginia Torres and again no reply came.

With the tarp, Dionson hopes LTO officials would finally decide to have telephone connections.

LTO Mandaue OIC head Armando Avila earlier said he had forwarded Dionson’s request to the regional office but until now he has not received a reply. (FREEMAN)