In an unprecedented operation, three personnel of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) accused of being a part of a syndicate have been arrested in a joint operation with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Philippine National Police (PNP) for allegedly stealing license plates at the agency's plate-making plant in Quezon City.

LTO chief Asst. Sec. Vigor Mendoza II identified the suspects as embossers Jenard Arida and Arjay Anasco; and warehouse staff Valeriano Nerizon, who are all assigned at the LTO Central Office's plate-making plant.

Meanwhile, a large-scale manhunt operation has been ordered against Allan Joker Abrigo, another LTO employee who served as the team leader and alleged boss of the arrested suspects.

"This is a big thing. I understand this is the first time that we were able to crackdown a syndicate inside our plant. We have been hearing a lot of rumors before but this is the first time, with the help of DILG, that we were able to apprehend them," Mendoza said in a press conference on Friday, Jan. 26.

Renante Melitante, head of LTO Intelligence and Investigation Division, said the case started when his office received raw information last year about the possible theft of license plates at the agency's plant. 

Mendoza immediately tasked Melitante to ensure that those responsible were caught as he also cited the danger involved in the illegal activity since the stolen license plates could be used for criminal activities.

A thorough investigation on the case led to the identification of the three suspects who are allegedly threatening their co-workers of harm if they would spill the beans on their modus.

"We've been working on this operation for more than a year already but during those months, it was quite challenging since there was no solid evidence that would pinpoint who the culprits were," Melitante shared.

The breakthrough came in December 2023 when an employee of the LTO broke silence and revealed suspicious activities inside the plant.

"An employee witnessed that the suspects were segregating some of the plates that were produced at the plant. In a CCTV [closed circuit television] footage, the mastermind or their team leader was seen stealing the segregated plates and sneaking them out of the plant into his motorcycle after his duty," Melitante said.

The LTO Intelligence and Investigation Division informed Mendoza of the development. Mendoza then sought help from DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos, who directed the PNP to form a special group for the operation.

On Thursday, Jan. 25, Militante was again tipped by an insider that the three suspects were again planning to steal license plates, which prompted him to contact Abalos' senior police assistant, Police Col. Bernard Yang, for the actual operation where the suspects were allegedly caught red-handed while sneaking five license plates from the plant.

The suspects were detained in Quezon City and are facing charges of Violation of Article 310 (Qualified Theft) and Article 294 (Robbery) under the Revised Penal Code.

Mendoza said administrative charges will also be filed against them.

Modus

The LTO said that the arrested suspects are "part of a grand illegal scheme involving newly-acquired motor vehicles through financing."

"Based on the result of the investigation, they are selling the license plate at P10,000 per piece. We are now trying to determine how long and how many license plates have been stolen by these errant employees," Mendoza said. 

“There is a syndicate behind these people involved in carnapping, smuggling and other serious crimes. We will run after the mastermind and the buyers. It appears they have long been embedded at the  LTO. More employees will be investigated as part of our weeding out of scalawags," he stressed.

According to the LTO, the modus starts with a leader or a financier who will acquire a vehicle through financing and will illegally sell the vehicle using duplicated plates and fake Official Receipt / Certificate of Registration (OR/CR).

By doing so, the financier finds its way to provide a fraudulent plate and OR/CR from a contact inside the LTO amounting to or less P20,000 each pair of plates. More so, the contact will then request the Plate Making Plant (PMP) team leader to illegally put these so-called duplicate plates. 

When the duplicated plate is already produced, the team leader or "warehouse supervisor", upon receiving the payment from a client, will then give the duplicated plates to the financier through courier to complete the transaction.

LTO chief Mendoza said that the scheme could be classified as "technical carnapping" as motor vehicles do not necessarily need to be modified or tampered with anymore since it would only constitute the crime of carnapping which the syndicates are avoiding. 

Today, those motor vehicles sourced from various scams such as "Rent-Tangay, Assume-Balance, and Labas-Casa-Talon," among others just needed falsified registration documents and other documentation such as agreements to be used by syndicates, Mendoza noted.

Considering that the motor involved is still under a mortgage and the original documents were still under the bank’s possession, Mendoza explained that the syndicate has no option but to directly make a purported original copy of the documents and other documentations such as license plates.

“The most important part of technical carnapping is the role of the con artist that usually fronts in the transaction by disguising themselves as the registered car owner during the disposal phase,” he revealed.

“Hence, a backstop identification card and other proof that can support the belief that the con artist is the registered owner is essential in the documentation prior to the disposal of the motor vehicle. The con artist must have valid identification cards (falsified or bogus) that will match the name in the falsified registration documents,” he added.

DILG: Check authenticity of vehicle's documents

Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin "Benhur" Abalos Jr. advised the public to check the authenticity of the documents of the vehicles they intend to buy with the LTO.

Abalos stressed that aside from the current plate number distribution woes faced by the LTO, the smuggling of unlicensed plate numbers also poses a huge problem for the department as they may be used for unlawful and criminal activities. 

Abalos also told the PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG) not to merely depend on the license plates of vehicles they check and consult with the LTO if they do not reflect with the vehicle they are attached to.