Dizon fires LTO officials over bar assault

MANILA, Philippines — For assaulting two people at a hotel in Tuguegarao City, the assistant regional director of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Cagayan Valley and its chief enforcer were ordered removed yesterday.

Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said in a press conference that LTO Region 2 assistant regional director Manuel Baricaua and chief enforcer Charles Ursulum have been “immediately relieved from duty.”

The removal stemmed from a complaint filed before the regional police office by a 20-year-old woman and two boys, one of them a 15-year-old, about the assault that has become viral on Facebook.

The post, which showed the assault on the boys seated outside the hotel lounge, has garnered 9,000 reactions, 4,000 comments and 8,000 shares.

In the complaint, Baricaua and Ursulum reportedly asked the female complainant to sit beside the LTO regional director while she was singing at the hotel’s karaoke lounge on June 4, a request that she turned down.

The complaint also alleged that the two officials slapped the boys and pulled the hair of the complainant’s mother who tried to bring her daughter out.

LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II said the two officials were accorded due process but failed to refute the incident in their explanation.

“So it is deemed to be a fact,” Mendoza said.

Charges of unjust vexation, slight physical injury and violation of Republic Act 7610 or the law protecting children against abuse, exploitation and discrimination were filed against Baricaua and Ursulum before the Tuguegarao City prosecutor.

Dizon said the behavior of Baricaua and Ursulum violated the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

He asked Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin to have Baricaua “permanently removed” from his position.

Dizon also ordered Mendoza to reach out to the victims and assist them in any way, particularly in filing charges.