LTO-7 taps NBI in rift vs motorcycle dealers

CEBU, Philippines —  Land Transportation Office-7 regional director Victor Emmanuel Caindec has sought the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation following irregularities of the submission of invoices to LTO-7 from the actual records held by the motorcycle owners.

“We have uncovered several fraudulent sales practices of several dealerships which tantamount to huge loss of income to the government which could significantly alleviate our economy from this pandemic,” Caindec said in his cover letter to the NBI-7.

Caindec said that five motorcycle dealers deliberately patterned the misreporting of business practices driven by the motive to evade taxes.

The Freeman is withholding the names of the five motorcycle dealers pending their comments on this matter.

According to Caindec, the non-release of the original certificate of registration (CR) to owners which bears no annotation or encumbrance in favor of the creditor is illegal.

Motorcycle owners who fail to carry their motor vehicle’s CR and official receipt (OR) violate the Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, he said.

Caindec has written a “Request for Assistance and Investigation” to NBI officer-in-charge Eric Distor to ask for assistance from the agency which was coursed through NBI-7 regional director Renan Augustus Oliva dated March 26, 2021.

Caindec added that by the volume of motorcycles sold under the dealership network by these five motorcycle dealers, government revenues in the form of taxes, chattel fees and LTO annotation fees are estimated to be in hundreds of millions annually or billions in a span of several years prior.

Caindec in a statement also emphasized the need to address the said violations as they are of “transcendental importance to the government and public in general as it pertains to economic sabotage, syndicated estafa, large-scale fraud with tax evasion.”

It can be recalled that in line with this issue, Caindec was issued a subpoena by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Senator Richard Gordon to testify as a resource speaker in the proceedings.

Caindec also said that a “presumed” investigation by the Bureau of Internal Revenue is currently being undertaken following the request of the agency to furnish them copies of receipts and sales invoices submitted by the dealers to LTO-7 from 2018-2020.

“This humble LTO Regional Office has readily exposed a grand scheme involving economic sabotage, tax evasion, and possible large-scale syndicated estafa,” Caindec added.

While LTO-7 is focusing on the administrative aspect of the investigation, Caindec wishes to ask for the expertise of the NBI for the efficient detection and investigation of the crimes committed by these dealers.

In 2019, LTO-7 discovered issues through social media reports and complaints from the public via the Presidential Complaint Center, of delayed registrations and non-release of CR of motorcycles sold by the said motorcycle dealers.

Upon investigation of LTO-7, the agency discovered the scheme of the alleged illegal activities of the said motorcycle dealers. — GMR (FREEMAN)