LTO chief on the spot

The national concern over the spate of car thefts that saw the murder of two car dealers and a driver has moved our government authorities to work double time to solve these heinous crimes. They, however, were fortunately aided by the surrender of two of the suspects in the killing of car dealer Venson Evangelista. While it should be a welcome development, this however, raised a lot of side issues.

For one, why is it that Raymond Dominguez, tagged as the alleged mastermind of the car theft syndicate behind the killing of Venson, insisted that he did not surrender to authorities but sought “police protective custody”? What is he talking about? Since when have our police become the protectors of criminals like him?

Dominguez and his elder brother Roger have been implicated in a long list of car theft cases. In fact, they were able to post bail 19 times, enabling them to get out of jail on provisional liberty while being prosecuted for a string of car theft cases.

Remember, Dominguez decided to give himself up after two of his alleged cohorts, Alfredo Mendiola and Ferdinand Parulan, squealed on him as the alleged brains behind this dastardly crime. The two surrendered to the police, citing their fears that they may be the next to be liquidated by the alleged masterminds of this notorious car theft syndicate operating in Central Luzon.

Mendiola, a self-confessed “estafador,” admitted to the police that he met and got recruited by Dominguez while they were together in prison. Mendiola claimed it was Dominguez, in fact, who posted bail for his temporary liberty, too. Mendiola’s confession is a sad indictment of our country’s justice and penal system.

Instead of being a place to rehabilitate criminals, our jails have become a recruitment, if not breeding ground, for hardened criminals who kill people for no reason at all. Our outdated penal and criminal laws have become a haven for moneyed crooks who use their loots and the fruits of their crimes to thwart the ends of justice. They can hire the best lawyers in town to keep them out of jail. 

Such is the situation that no less than President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III could only mutter in obvious dismay that Dominguez was able to post bail in the various car theft cases filed against him.

Given this situation, Malacañang has indicated its support for the possible amendments to existing penal laws to impose stiffer penalties against car thefts. This I sensed from my small talk with Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Ed de Mesa who I met for the first time at the Palace yesterday. De Mesa noted that a number of bills, in fact, have already been filed in the 15th Congress to help correct the situation.

We had this brief chat with De Mesa before the memorial program for the birth anniversary of P-Noy’s late mother, former President Corazon Aquino, held at the Palace yesterday. After the program, we also had the chance to strike a short talk with President Aquino about these cases now hounding his seven-month-old administration.

President Aquino himself noted that the car theft cases where the victims were also killed sadly came at a time when there is already a reduction of car theft incidents in the country.      

Retrieving the official figures forwarded to him from his iPhone, the President shared the following information. In 2010, there were 761 motor vehicles stolen all over the country. From 2000 to 2009, there was an average of 1,186 vehicles stolen. Thus, car theft incidence in 2010 was 37.6 percent lower than the yearly average.

For motorcycles, 976 were stolen in 2010. From 2000 to 2009, an average of 949 motorcycles was lost per year.

Combining these figures, a total of 1,739 were reported stolen in 2010. From 2000 to 2009, there was a yearly average of 2,134 stolen vehicles and motorcycles. Hence, the 2010 record was 18.5 percent lower than the yearly average. Lastly, 2010 had an 8.62 percent lower number of motor vehicles and motorcycles combined, compared to 2009.

In a press conference at the Palace last Monday, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo made very valid observations that car theft syndicates might be aided by unscrupulous elements in the government service.

Mincing no words, Robredo conceded that these car theft syndicates might have easy access to registration of stolen vehicles with the Land Transportations Office (LTO). Yesterday, Robredo was more specific in his disclosures that there may be three or four “bad” cops behind the car theft syndicates. As DILG Secretary, Robredo is the immediate supervisor of the Philippine National Police (PNP). He should start cracking the whip from his end.

For her part, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday announced that she has ordered a review of all the cases filed against Dominguez and look into the suspected collusion among fiscals, cops and even those from the LTO.

De Lima has already started her own investigation into another case involving LTO officials led by its chairman Virginia Torres on the intra-corporate squabble that has plagued the agency since late last year.

The raging corporate squabble is threatening to jeopardize the reforms in the corrupt-prone LTO and even cut short the stint of a neophyte running the national agency until the two warring blocs, which have tons of cash for a long-drawn media battle, have satisfied their multibillion egos. And while we cannot totally extricate Torres from blame, she seems to have the misfortune of getting herself into a situation where she has become the proxy stooge for the two warring blocs. And now she’s reaping the dividends of her parochial innocence?

The very public intramural of the two disputing blocs of Stradcom Corp., the information technology server of LTO, exposes the root cause of the entire probe exercise – a private ownership question. The DOJ panel is being presented here with an opportunity to finally put the Stradcom ownership issue to rest.

In the meantime, LTO’s services to the public suffer while the registration process is under a cloud of suspicion amid the car theft cases. Torres is a personal choice of President Aquino as LTO chief. She is on the spot to prove that she can head this agency that will put an end to the nefarious trade of car thieves.