In a meeting with bus owners and operators, the chiefs of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Tuesday issued a stern warning against dealing with fixers.
The warning was made during a dialogue of LTO director Edgardo Galvante and LTFRB chairman Martin Delgra 3rd with bus operators, who were told to transact only with LTO employees and not with fixers.
Also present was Undersecretary Anelli Lontoc, who represented Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade.
The LTO was found to have the highest number of fixers, according to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) followed by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
The LTFRB also has its own group of fixers who offer their services to speed up the processing of documents in exchange for a hefty amount of money, a bigger share of which goes to corrupt officials.
Delgra warned bus operators that their application for franchise will not be processed and may be rejected completely if LTFRB found they have transacted with fixers.
Lontoc also stressed that Tugade’s marching orders to end illegal transactions in the LTO and LTFRB were based on the directives of President Rodrigo Duterte to end massive graft and corruption in the two government agencies.
LTO Press Club president Jan Sinocruz of Remate said the journalists covering LTO and LTFRB will monitor the operations of the fixers and their contacts inside the two government offices.
Sinocruz noted that this is one way that media can help eradicate graft and corruption in the LTO and LTFRB.