INTERIOR Secretary Ronaldo Puno on Monday ordered an investigation into the alleged link between unidentified officials and employees of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and their possible involvement in carjacking.

Puno directed commander of the National Police-Traffic Management Group (TMG), Chief Supt. Perfecto Palad to coordinate with LTO chief Alberto Suansing and officials of the SBMA and “leave no stone unturned in its probe into this group known as the ‘Luzviminda carjacking syndicate.’” 

The Department of the Interior and Local Government chief said it is possible that “Luzviminda” is operating in connivance with regional officers of the LTO and SBMA personnel, explaining why its operation reaches as far as Visayas and Mindanao.

“I don’t care who gets hurt in the process even if these are ranking government officials, wala tayong sasantuhin,” Puno said.

This developed after the TMG recently recovered more than 40 stolen luxury vehicles, 21 of which were during a three-week nonstop operation against carjack rings.

Palad said the recovered vehicles were sold or being sold mostly as brand-new ones even in some car show rooms with complete documentation—including registration papers and Bureau of Internal Revenue tax payments—and sometimes passed off as imported vehicles shipped to the country through the Subic free port.

The documentation of the vehicles showed that these originated from regional offices of the LTO and from the SBMA, which raises the possibility of government employees or officials being involved in the operations of this carjacking group, Palad said.

Puno said that Suansing has promised to cooperate with the investigating team.

Among the recovered vehicles were six Mitsubishi Pajeros; four Toyota Fortuners; two Toyota Prados; two Toyota Revos; two Toyota Innovas; three Honda CRVs; an Isuzu Alterra; and a Mitsubishi L-300.

The vehicles, many of which had tampered engine and chassis numbers, were recovered by the TMG in operations in the cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro, according to Palad.

Once the fake papers are completed, these hot cars are then sold, usually in the Visayas and Mindanao, Palad added.

Officials said the LTO offices in Toledo City in Cebu, Bislig in Surigao del Sur, and Molave, Zamboanga del Sur, are the main sources of the license plates and registration papers found on the stolen vehicles.

Others are the LTO offices in Polomolok, South Cotabato, and Patinga-ay and Tubod towns in Lanao del Norte, Tagbilaran City in Bohol, and Marawi City.

Administration’s flair for secrecy hit

Other than its reported penchant for corruption, there is another trait that distinguishes the Arroyo administration from previous administrations—its flair for secrecy, which is denying the people of their right to information and to be appraised of issues that directly affect them.

NUEVA ECIJA—Panic buying of cheap National Food  Authority (NFA) rice continues in high gear amost everywhere, and in Metro Manila, mayors are now asking the Department of Agriculture to put up more rolling stores and rice-distribution centers in their jurisdictions.

INTERIOR Secretary Ronaldo Puno on Monday ordered an investigation into the alleged link between unidentified officials and employees of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and their possible involvement in carjacking.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The Zamboanga City police has come out with the artist’s sketch of one of the three persons, believed to be Abu Sayyaf bandits, responsible for the two explosions that rocked this city on Sunday morning.

NOTING that the present law on sexual harassment did not deter the commission of that crime, legislators representing the women sector are seeking to add more teeth to the law by amending it and providing for stiffer penalties.

THE nine junior officers who were convicted by a Makati court on coup charges should accept their fate that they could no longer rejoin the military even if President Arroyo grants them executive clemency, defense and military officials said on Monday.

THE heads of the National Police and the military on Monday expressed no objections to the country’s ratification of the 1998 Rome statute that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), but maintained that local courts are capable of handling cases of human-rights abuses, particularly extrajudicial killings.

THE Court of Appeals (CA) has dismissed the petitions filed by former Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino and Col. Eduardo Ańo, seeking to quash the subpoenas issued against them by the appellate court requiring their appearance in the ongoing hearing on the petition for the issuance of a writ of amparo in connection with the disappearance of Jonas Burgos.