Agents of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) have arrested two alleged fixers, including a barangay official, in two separate operations in Iloilo City and in Oas, Albay.
LTO chief JayArt Tugade said the first operation happened in Iloilo City and resulted in the arrest of a barangay official of Barangay Ilongbukid in San Rafael, Iloilo, who is allegedly moonlighting as fixer.
The suspect was arrested at her residence for allegedly selling fake driver’s licenses to barangay residents and even her co-barangay officials for P5,650.
In Albay, joint LTO and local police operatives arrested an alleged fixer who has been posing an LTO employee. The suspect was later discovered to be a volunteer traffic enforcer of the Oas Anti-Crime & Community Emergency Response Team (ACCERT).
The suspect allegedly tried to extort P7,500 from the complainant in exchange for the immediate processing of the complainant’s driver’s license application.
Tugade then urged the public not to entertain the offers of the fixers.
“Dealing with fixers for their driver’s license and other related transactions at the Agency will never amount to anything good -- they may end up paying for more with their hard-earned money to unscrupulous individuals and get fake documents, or lose their money and not get any document at all,” said Tugade.
Both the suspects are now detained and are facing criminal charges.