Better late than never

The news is that Land Transportation Office head and Department of Transportation and Communications Assistant Secretary Anneli Lontoc has ordered the "toughening" of the registration of all second-hand or previously-owned vehicles.

At the same time, four unidentified LTO personnel have been suspended on suspicion of complicity in the fake registration of stolen vehicles. If proven guilty, these personnel will be dismissed and formally charged before the Ombudsman.

Frankly, I’m not too impressed by all this. What the hell took you guys so long? Where have you been! I know Asec Lontoc is a really busy person, with all her problems with the public utility vehicle sector. But this belated action by the LTO strikes me as being an admission of two typical bureaucratic sins: blissful ignorance and gross neglect.

Is the LTO professing ignorance of the obviously critical role the LTO plays in successfully pulling off a stolen vehicle enterprise? If so, they’re about the last persons in town to learn of fake motor vehicle registration papers which facilitate fraudulent transfers of carnapped or carjacked cars.

It’s absolutely mind-boggling that the LTO didn’t tighten up on the registration process much earlier. It’s not as if the carnapping racket started yesterday. This inaction only feeds rumors that LTO insiders are key players in syndicates which alter engine and chassis numbers of stolen cars and then cause the issuance of false registration papers and new license plates. No way crooks can do this without help from the inside.

Now the LTO has announced, to trumpets blaring, that it is focusing on possible weaknesses or "loopholes" in its computer systems. Someone, apparently, could be hacking the system to come up with ostensibly "clean" documents. I mean, were we born yesterday? This should have been the first area looked into, not the virtually last.

The truth is that the LTO was put behind the 8-ball when one Patrick Dominic Tuzon was caught on November 17th in a sting operation trying to sell a car recently carjacked from TV host Iya Villania. This guy was allegedly in the business of selling or renting high-end cars, many of which were apparently stolen.

Villania’s Nissan Patrol was in that compound along with two Mercedes Benzes and two BMWs. Tuzon’s excuse was that, in regard to the Patrol SUV, he relied on registration papers presented to him by one Jose "Jayjay" de los Santos which he assumed to be genuine because he had had previous dealings with Jayjay.

However, Jayjay has since turned himself in to authorities, accompanied by his father, Dr. Joey de los Santos, one of the owners of the De los Santos General Hospital in Quezon City, lawyer Rey Francisco, son of a late Court of Appeals Justice, and Mila Arnaldo, president of the subdivision where Jayjay resides.

Jayjay, a supposed "financier" of a carjacking ring, denied he had anything to do with car theft. So far, the only evidence the police have against him is the bare testimony of Tuzon and an individual caught with him when he was arrested by the Traffic Management Group. Unless the cops have any other evidence linking the younger de los Santos to criminal activity, the focus ought to be on Tuzon himself. The latter could be a convenient "fence" for the quick disposition of stolen cars and, thus, another key player in the carjacking ring.

One doesn’t have to be an avid reader of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, or even a fan of the hapless Inspector Clouseau, to come to the conclusion that one of the first things our intrepid law enforcers should have done was to crack down on criminals within the LTO, where the fake registration papers appear to be easily procured.

They should have put the fear of God on used car dealers, who dispose of the cars usually at rock-bottom prices, and on car repair shops which repaint stolen vehicles, cannibalize them for spare parts, and alter their engine and chassis numbers.

In the case of Iya Villania, for example, her virtually brand-new Patrol, which could easily sell for P2 million, was being offered for P850,000. This was supposedly what aroused the suspicion of undercover cops and moved them to mount the buy-bust operation where Tuzon and other alleged accomplices were bagged.

One wonders why, if ordinary citizens can figure this one out, the cops seem to be running around in circles. Once in while, the TMG engages alleged carjackers in high-visibility encounters which usually result in all suspects dead, and give rise to questions from a skeptical public as to whether a rub-out or genuine shoot-out took place.

And if you think we’ve forgotten about that Ortigas incident, just because the matter seems to have disappeared from media radar screens, think again. This matter is far from being resolved.

The focus of TMG head, Chief Superintendent Augusto Angcanan, is on the alleged criminal record of the three slaughtered youths. TMG operatives, he insists, were left with no alternative but to finish off the kids, who were apparently alive albeit disabled, because "they still posed a threat to the law enforcers."

You might think the grieving families are taking all this without complaint or intention to respond to the character assassination that has been mercilessly perpetrated on their children. You would be wrong.

Over the last few weeks, friends and relatives of the slain "suspects" have contacted us to tell another side of the story. In this small society of ours, it’s not surprising that the decedents had connections with friends, former business colleagues, and even relatives of this columnist. These boys were hardly role models for our youth. They were problem children, yes, but child psychologists will probably say that their character traits and weaknesses were the outcome of circumstances beyond their control.

Some of them may have had previous run-ins with the law. But those who knew them swear they were not hardened, much less homicidal, criminals.

I have suggested to these friends and relatives that, before it becomes academic, they should come out with the other side of the story. Be not afraid, as Pope John Paul II famously, and originally, said. There are enough people who will aid and comfort you, if only to ensure that the whole and unembellished truth, not those sanitized and self-serving versions, occupy center stage, as it should.