It all started with an honest and detailed narration and observation of what motor vehicle owners usually go through in dealing with traffic violations, and would possibly end up with a car dealer losing accreditation over an unregistered vehicle.

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) stood by the decision of a Skyway enforcer to issue reckless driving violation to the son of transport vlogger James Deakin and clarified all the issues raised in his post that went viral on social media.

Using some photos as evidence, LTO chief Assistant Secretary Markus Lacanilao said the vehicle being driven by Deakin’s son crossed a double solid yellow lane near the Quezon Avenue exit of the Skyway.

And it happened, he said, right in front of a Skyway enforcer.

“Reckless driving refers to driving without proper caution and with disregard of road safety,” Lacanilao said in a press briefing.

And for the LTO chief, crossing a double solid yellow lane falls under that violation.

The issue of reckless driving came after Deakin, in his vlog that went viral on Monday, Jan. 5, raised concern that the violation cited in the ticket could be a criminal offense that would affect his son’s “employment, insurance and travel.”

But Lacanilao said reckless driving is not a criminal offense but an administrative offense based on the Joint Administrative Order 2014-01 of the Department of Transportation and Communication.

He said Deakin may have confused it with “Reckless Imprudence”, which is a criminal offense under the Revised Penal Code.

“Reckless driving and reckless imprudence are two different things. Reckless driving is not a permanent record, it’s not a criminal offense and the penalty is purely administrative order. This is not a criminal record,” he emphasized.

Double reckless driving

And for Lacanilao, Deakin’s son actually committed two cases of reckless driving because aside from improper lane change, he was driving an unregistered motor vehicle.

“Driving an unregistered vehicle is reckless driving according to the rules,” said Lacanilao. 


He said a show cause order (SCO) was already issued against the dealer of the motor vehicle since the car has no OR/CR (Official Receipt/Certificate of Registration) and what was presented was a sales invoice by the importer to the car dealer.

“That car was not supposed to be on the street. We issued an SCO to the car dealer for allowing that vehicle to be driven without proper papers,” said Lacanilao.

Such violation, he said, could lead to the car dealer losing the accreditation from the LTO, “Such practice by car dealers is wrong. They may lose their accreditation if they are doing that.”

Lacanilao said they expect a reply from the car dealer, along with all the people involved—the son of Deakin and the Skyway enforcer—on Jan. 12.

Calendar vs working days

In the press briefing, Lacanilao mentioned the concern raised by Deakin in his viral post about including weekends and holidays in the 15-day period to settle the penalty for the traffic violation and retrieve the confiscated license.

Netizens also criticized the policy as they said that it is illogical to include weekends and holidays during the period to settle traffic violation penalties. 

But Lacanilao said the LTO could not be faulted for that policy since the regulation itself did not specify that  such period refers to “working days”.

And as such, the LTO is using calendar days. 

He, however, pointed out that it is not the main issue as he discussed the responsibility of motor vehicle owners and drivers to settle their obligation on time.

In the case of Deakin’s son, he said the traffic violation was committed on Dec. 18 and they have enough time to settle the penalty and retrieve the license even during the Yuletide season.

‘Bashed”

Lacanilao called for responsible vlogging as he emphasized that the LTO and all its employees were bashed on social media as a result of the viral post.

While he was strict on erring employees, he said he is ready to defend any LTO employee if he or she is doing the right thing.

And for Lacanilao, there was neither wrong nor any violation committed by the LTO employees on the issue of settling penalties and retrieval of driver’s license and even the issuance of the traffic violation.

The LTO chief said responsible vlogging must start with proper knowledge on every content that vloggers want to discuss or post about.