That 'little king' in the LTO
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January 21, 2002
SOMETHING tells me that the public is not seeing the real picture of what is really happening in northern Mindanao's Land Transportation Office (LTO) these days. Frankly, I find it strange that an LTO employee is doing the rounds, telling Cagayan de Oro-based journalists of how persecuted he supposedly is under the hands of Esteban Baltazar Jr., the new land transportation regional director.
Andrew Tupag, a records officer at LTO, claims Baltazar has been harassing him.
I have two questions.
(1) How is Tupag being harassed?
(2) Why is Tupag being harassed?
The answer to the second question--granting for argument's sake that Tupag is indeed being harassed--is quite obvious. He is not a Baltazar man.
What is unclear to me is how Tupag would answer my first question. How?
Frankly, I can't understand why Tupag calls his relief as officer-in-charge of the LTO's extension office "harassment". If Baltazar ordered him placed inside LTO's "freezer" after the recall order, that I would call harassment. But Tupag was merely relieved as OIC of the Puerto office so he could do what he is supposed to be doing in the first place--that is, to function as the regional LTO's records keeper. (Tupag is just a records officer and not an office manager, much more a director or something similar.)
Technically, Tupag should be happy about his relief. As an OIC, he managed an entire office and handled many problems that go with his previous designation. Yet he only got paid as a records officer because that's his official position. Now, given Baltazar's order, Tupag's only problem--if problem that is--is just to make sure that the regional LTO's records are in order. And he gets the same salary! Is that a problem?
But I guess Tupag has gotten used to being a king in his own little kingdom in a barangay called Puerto that he can't just give it up without putting up a fight. I think the problem with Tupag is that he has gotten used to the perks that go with being the LTO-Puerto "director".
Under the context of the prostituted Philippine civil service, a director's seat--especially that of LTO's and the like--is very juicy.
For instance, a corrupt LTO director can send out "flying crocodiles" on the highways to extort money from erring motorists and get commissions. That would make him or her the king or queen of the Kingdom of Flying Crocodiles.
In exchange for some cash, he/she can have a hot car registered and can have the licenses of erring drivers renewed without any questions asked.
In the guise of travel expenses and the like, a director can also steal LTO money. And if a director is smart enough, he/she can have his/her tracks covered by having financial records burned even before an audit can be carried out.
A corrupt LTO director or a "little director" can also secretly do business with the LTO, say, by having a relative or a friend or even mistress run a car insurance company or a drug-testing center. (Incidentally, I just renewed my driver's license and found out that LTO-accredited drug-test centers charge much, much more than the transportation office's fees for license renewal. Crazy government!)
The list of top-level corruption in the LTO can go on and on and on. I only hope corruption opportunities are not the reason why Tupag is making all these noise against Baltazar.
Hoy, Tupag, atupagin mo nga ang dapat mong atupagin!
Pastilan.
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