In an apparent attempt to escape liability for cutting a long line of vehicles in front of the La Salle Green Hills, a lady driver allegedly name dropped an official of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) while berating the enforcer who accosted her for traffic violation.

But that sense of entitlement put the lady driver in trouble as no less than MMDA chairman Don Artes asked the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to teach her a lesson on humility and road discipline through appropriate punishment.

In response, LTO chief Assistant Secretary Vigor D. Mendoza II said they have already issued a show cause order (SCO) against the registered owner of the Hi-Ace van involved in the incident on Aug. 8.

And since the MMDA could not provide the identity of the lady driver, Mendoza said they mandated the company, which is the registered owner of the van, to bring the lady driver to the LTO Central Office in Quezon City on Aug. 28 for the hearing.

“Once we establish the identity of this driver and find out that she has a driver’s license, it would be subjected to a 90-day suspension. But if she could not present a driver’s license or the license has expired, then she is in big trouble,” said Mendoza.

“We also placed the involved vehicle under alarm,” he added.

Based on the complaint, the female driver allegedly attempted to cut in the long queue of vehicles in front of the La Salle Green Hills but was stopped by an MMDA traffic enforcer.

This led to a heated confrontation wherein the driver purportedly tried to intimidate the enforcer by name-dropping an MMDA official, obstructing the free passage of other motor vehicles.

Prior to the incident, Artes wrote a letter to the president of the La Salle Green Hills to do something with the heavy build-up of vehicles in the area especially during the morning and afternoon rush hours.

This, after the MMDA noted a significant increase in the No-Contact Apprehension Policy (NCAP) violations in the area due to the drop off of students in the morning and pick-up of students in the afternoon.

The school authority, for its part, vowed to do something about the complaint and said it has been implementing measures to ease the traffic woes in the area.

Mendoza said the company that owns the car was instructed to show up at the LTO Central Office in Quezon City and was asked to explain in writing why it should not be penalized for allowing a discourteous person to drive the motor vehicle.

The driver, on the other hand, faces charges of obstruction of traffic and being an improper person to operate a motor vehicle.

“Failure to appear and submit the comments/explanations as required shall be construed by this Office as a waiver of your rights to be heard, and the case shall be decided based on the evidence at hand,” the SCO read.