Cebu Daily News / News

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LTO numbers dont match Cebu Daily News Posted date: February 07, 2008 CEBU CITY, Philippines - The number of registered vehicles at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Cebu did not match with the records in Manila. This surfaced during yesterday's congressional hearing in Manila by the House committee on good governance which is looking into reports of rampant car smuggling in Central Visayas. LTO officials in Cebu were given 10 days to explain the “inconsistencies” in the number of registered motor vehicles from 2006 to 2007. These did not match with the records submitted by the regional office to the LTO central office in Manila. “These are not just inconsistencies but according to them, there were errors in their data (submitted by LTO Central Visayas to its central office),” said Camiguin Rep. Pedro Romualdo, chairman of the committee on good governance. “We are giving them time to explain and submit the necessary documents that will really reflect the accurate data on the number of motor vehicles registered. We are getting to the bottom of this and so far gahapon sige pa og tudlo ang mga mi-testify,” he said. Among those who testified yesterday were lawyer Alex Leyson, former LTO Central Visayas director who is now assigned in Eastern Visayas, and Alita Pulga, LTO chief for Cebu City LTO district office. Leyson was confronted with the big gap in the figures submitted by his office and the data given by the Cebu Auto Dealers Association on the number of registered vehicles in Central Visayas. Data collated by the Cebu Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. in 2006 showed that legitimate car dealers sold 5,060 motor vehicles but the records of the LTO Central Office showed that there were 25, 221 new registrations in Central Visayas over the same period. The report submitted by LTO in Central Visayas during Leyson's term showed that not a single registration was issued by the LTO district office in Toledo in 2006. But an inventory made by a four-man team from the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) showed that two vehicles were registered in Toledo in 2006. The number suddenly rose to 3,096 in 2007. The irregular trend prompted DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza to send a team of investigators to Cebu last month. Leyson could not explain why the LTO-7 reported zero registration in Toledo in 2006. He promised to give the committee his reply in 10 days. Raul Aguilos, who took over as LTO-7 director from Leyson, said his predecessor admitted there were inconsistencies in the data about motor vehicle registration. Cebu City Rep. Antonio Cuenco said he and other committe members believed that there could be about 2,000 vehicles registered in Toledo if 3,906 registrations were made in 2007. He said it was highly improbable for the figures to jump from two units in 2006 to 3,906 in 2007. Pulga told last night that a discrepancy in the figures was only about 1,000 units based on the Management Information System. She, however, begged off from elaborating , saying she still had to retrieve supporting documents. The next congressional hearing will be be held in Manila next week. Other resource persons from the Bureau of Customs (BOC), LTO and Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) will be called. Romualdo said he required the resource persons from BOC, LTO and PASG to submit a flow chart to explain the process from vehicle importation to assessment and registration. Romualdo said he created a sub-committee of six legislators to conduct the hearings in Cebu. Cuenco, in a separate interview, said the committee members were not satisfied with the explanation of LTO officials yesterday. He also warned that Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales, Undersecretary Antonio Villar, head of PASG and LTO chief Alberto Suansing would be cited in contempt if they don’t appear in next week's hearing. Cuenco said they would also summon former Toledo City LTO chief Gavino Paden to explain the irregularity in the motor registrations made under his term. “We will continue the hearings. Those officials who will deliberately skip from attending will be cited for contempt. We are not really satisfied with their testimonies because our theory here is that the BOC, LTO and PASG are government agencies and if reports are true that this is a syndicated activity, we don't think that those from these agencies will really talk,” he said.