LTO 6 exec blames high arrests on lack of personnel, resources
The high number of arrests of traffic violators all over the region could be blamed on the lack of personnel and resources of the Land Transportation Office 6, an official said.
In first quarter of the year alone, 21,398 violators in Western Visayas were arrested by LTO 6 enforcers.
Marlon Velez, deputy chief of LTO 6 Law Enforcement Service, said his department has only 15 organic law enforcement personnel operating regionwide.
Velez said the LTO 6 has 16 district and extension offices in the region and each office has only two standby enforcers multi-tasking – performing arrests, issuing licenses, evaluating registrations, and doing office work – that is why they could not enforce the law effectively.
“We could not put full order in highways and saturate far-flung areas due to lack of personnel and resources (that will allow) us to conduct enforcer visibility (operations),” he told The News Today in a previous interview.
At present, Velez said that around 70 “plantilla” positions remain vacant in the entire region after employees assigned to these posts have either retired or resigned more than five years ago.
“Nobody has replaced them because we are not allowed to hire new employees,” he said.
License Applicants
Applicants for both professional and non-professional driving should attend a half-day seminar at the LTO 6 office in Jaro district, Iloilo and pass the written examination and test drive before they could get their licenses.
Examination covers traffic rules, signs, penalties, among others.
Velez said applicants should already know how to drive and have sufficient ideas on traffic rules and signs before taking the examination to make sure that they pass.
Velez said the LTO does not distribute handbooks on traffic rules to applicants.
“We can’t afford to distribute it because we lack resources,” he said.
However, Velez said some of the transport groups were provided copies of these materials.*
