By Mary Judaline Partlow/PNA
DUMAGUETE CITY — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Dumaguete City has been alerted on the presence of falsified driver’s licenses, following the apprehension early this week of a man with a dubious document.
LTO-Dumaguete District Office chief Alberta Janine Lawas disclosed Wednesday afternoon that the man, who was flagged down during a roadside inspection Tuesday for another violation, presented a driver’s license that was “illegally transacted.”
The man was driving his four-wheeled vehicle loaded with styrofoam boxes on Tuesday, when he was flagged down for alleged cargo overloading.
During a subsequent inspection, it turned out that the man’s driver’s license, though appearing to be an authentic LTO plastic card, contained information that led the authorities to believe it was “invalid,” Lawas said.
A close scrutiny of the driver’s license showed that it was still the old three-year validity kind, but with an expiry date ending in 2022, Lawas said.
It caught the attention of the LTO apprehending officer because the last batch of three-year driver’s licenses would supposedly be expiring in 2019 after President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered the extension of the validity to five years, she added.
Also, another dubious information found on the said plastic card was the name “Negros Oriental District Office,” which is non-existent, Lawas pointed out.
There are only three LTO District Offices in Negros Oriental, and these are the Dumaguete District Office, the Bayawan District Office, and the Bais District Office.
Lawas declined to name the LTO District Office that had supposedly issued the “fake” driver’s license, hinting only that it is somewhere in Mindanao.
She is hoping to have this incident investigated “kay luoy kayo ang mga inosenteng tawo nga mabiktima sa mga binuang nga ingun ani (we pity the innocent people who fall prey to unscrupulous individuals),” Lawas said.
Another concern that Lawas noted was that upon checking online, the name of the man did not appear. Instead, another name showed up on the screen, to whom the same driver’s license number was assigned.
It is unfortunate that this has happened here, and this is not the first time, as, in the past, the LTO and the Highway Patrol Group had also come across fake and invalid driver’s licenses, she said.
The LTO-Dumaguete District Office has impounded the motor vehicle, while the man was asked to pay the corresponding fines for violations, including driving without a license and for using a “fake” document.
The person cannot also be allowed to drive for one year from the date of apprehension due to the suspension of his driver’s license for 365 days, she said.
To avoid situations like this, Lawas is urging the public to obtain their driver’s license through legitimate means and be wary of “fixers” or other people, who offer their services to do the transactions for them with LTO.
