Abenina clears Cagayan Valley LTO head of raps

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan — Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Edgardo Abenina has cleared his agency’s Cagayan Valley director of extortion and other charges and admonished that future complaints against the latter "will necessarily fail."

In a four-page resolution furnished The STAR, Abenina cleared regional LTO director Moises Almuete of accusations of imposing a "quota" on his district officers, inefficiency, nepotism and favoritism which district officer Ernesto Fernandez hurled against him.

Fernandez was the former officer-in-charge of the LTO’s San Isidro district office. He was later transferred to the Roxas district office and placed on "floating" status.

Abenina said Almuete’s explanation and the evidence he submitted "more than convinced us that the issues raised in the complaint are pursued in faithful compliance to the dictates of the call of duty."

The LTO chief approved the resolution as recommended by lawyers Percival Cendaña and Ramon Cuyco, heads of LTO’s Legal Task Force and Law Enforcement Services, respectively.

Cendaña and Cuyco investigated the charges against Almuete, upon orders of Abenina who himself complied with the directive of Transportation and Communications Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez.

"Contemplation of any action against the regional director in pursuit of the same complaints (extortion, inefficiency, nepotism, favoritism) will necessarily fail as it is already barred by prior judgment," the resolution stated, citing a joint decision by the LTO, National Bureau of Investigation and Civil Service Commission on May 28, 1998.

In the earlier resolution, the three agencies cleared Almuete of charges of extortion, inefficiency and nepotism which a certain Alfredo Baculanta and Alfredo Andres filed against him.

Almuete had explained to Abenina that his "revenue quota" was in compliance with a memorandum enjoining LTO field offices to increase their revenue collections by at least 10-15 percent.

Fernandez accused Almuete of pocketing the collections, and alleged that the "quota" system has forced the agency’s "flying squads" to extort money from motorists.

"The revenue quota, if ever realized, goes to the coffers of the government, not to anybody’s pocket," Almuete said in a phone interview.

The Department of Transportation and Communications has certified that LTO-Region 2 collected a total of P144,203,709 last year, exceeding its revenue collection the previous year by more than P10 million.

Elmor Juridico, executive director of the Career Executive Service Board, furnished The STAR a copy of Almuete’s career service performance evaluation for 2000, which rated his performance as "almost outstanding."

Pilar Perez, the LTO’s human resource management officer, also sent this writer the list of 17 national commendations and awards which the LTO central office has given to LTO-Region 2 under Almuete’s leadership.