Marcos asked to look into alleged corruption in regional LTO

A group of bus drivers and operators have appealed to President Marcos to look into alleged corrupt practices at a Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Southern Luzon, claiming they are being asked to fork out large sums of money to avoid being apprehended.

Based on their letter dated Feb. 27 and received by the PAC on March 7, the group, led by Federico Callejas of Celyrosa Transport, alleged that a high-ranking official was asking P50,000 from each operator before talking to the latter. They are also supposedly being asked to pay P25,000 monthly so enforcers would not apprehend them.

The group said they could not keep up with this anymore.

"Marami po sa amin ang hindi kayang magbigay ng mga nabanggit na halaga sa hirap ng biyahe (Many of us could no longer pay the said amount because of the difficulties we face in our route)," the letter read.

"Kung hindi ka po magbibigay sa kanila ay kung ano-anong violation ang kinakarga sa amin (If not, they will charge you for whatever violations)," it furthered, adding that this forces them to talk to the high-ranking official.

The group suggested that President Marcos reshuffles the officials in the said LTO office following corruption allegations.

"Nawa po ay inyong italaga ay isang matinong tao at hindi nangongotong upang kami naman po ay hindi mahirapan sa amin pong mga biyahe (We wish that you appoint someone who won't extort money from us so we could ply our routes with ease)," it read.

The letter stated that the buses in question are plying the Naic-PITX, Tagaytay-PITX, Indang-PITX, Alfonso-PITX, and Mendez-PITX.

Other signatories to the letter include Henry Cayao of Lorna Express and Francis Caballero of Floralde Liner.