Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin “Benhur’’ Abalos Jr. has expressed confidence that the alliance of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) will decrease the country’s motorcycle theft cases.

He issued the statement after the PNP and the LTO forged an agreement that will interconnect their respective information and communications technology (ICT) systems.

Abalos said the PNP-LTO tie-up is vital as the motorcycle theft cases have reached an alarming number of 30,000 every year nationwide.

With the PNP-LTO agreement, Abalos pointed out that authorities can now easily determine if a motorcycle is stolen, which previously took several months to verify in the record books.

Through the new scheme, Abalos explained that the PNP-Highway Patrol Group (HPG) can now have access to the LTO ICT system on the motorcycle records, which they are investigating or placed under alarm.

Under the system, Abalos noted that the PNP-HPG operatives will now be stationed at the LTO Command Center to facilitate access to information such as the details on the certificate of registration and official receipt of the particular vehicle.

“Kasama rin dito ang tala ng registration history ukol sa transfer of ownership at encumbrance; at, iba pang kailangan sa imbestigasyon (This also includes the details of the registration history pertaining to the transfer of ownership and encumbrance and other information needed in the investigation),’’ Abalos said.

Abalos also pointed out that the PNP will allow the LTO to validate the motorcycle vehicle clearance certificate (MVCC) to ensure that the registrations are authentic through the upload of the MVCC in the LTO IT system.

The DILG chief assured that the PNP and the LTO will enhance their interconnectivity system through the creation of the technical working group (TWG).