The government has decided to revoke the driver’s license of veteran actress Maria Isabel Lopez for breaching a lane designated for delegates of Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit last Nov. 11.
The suspension was reported by Metro Manila Development Authority assistant general manager for planning Jose Arturo Garcia Jr. after the Land Transportation Office came up with the decision on Monday in connection with the case of the former beauty queen.
Garcia said the LTO also prohibited Lopez from applying and reacquiring a license for the next two years and ordered the actress to pay P8,000 for the three traffic violations she committed — Reckless Driving, Disregarding Traffic Signs and Anti Distracted Driving Act — when she breached the special lane on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue on the evening of Nov. 11.
Lawyers from the MMDA Legal Division were the ones who recommended to the LTO that Lopez’s driver’s license be “permanently revoked,” as well as to bar her “perpetually” from either applying or obtaining a license.
In a letter submitted to LTO on Nov. 13, MMDA lawyer Victor Pablo Trinidad said “(Lopez) shameless conduct and unlawful act of breaching the security protocol during an international event in our country make her an ‘improper person to operate a motor vehicle’ which would endanger the public.”
“We’re just the recommending party. Giving of penalties is not up to us, its with the LTO. We are satisfied with the decision,” said Garcia.
“At least there was a fair decision. Whatever the decision made, we leave it there and that’s fine for us because there was a due process,” added MMDA spokesperson Celine Pialago.
Pialago said the incident should serve as a warning and reminder to the public that the MMDA and other government agencies are working hard to do things for the benefit and welfare of the people.
“Our chairman (Danilo Lim) is setting an example that we are serious doing our job. We want the people to know there should be no VIP. We will act according to the law,” she said.
Metro Manila police director Oscar Albayalde commented that a person of her (Lopez) stature “should be an example to the Filipino community but she did just the contrary. Any violations on the protocols and rules set forth by the ASEAN Task Forces shall not be tolerated.”
Lopez, who was crowned Binibining Pilipinas Universe in 1982, posted on her social media account that after she did her wrongdoing, other motorists on EDSA also followed suit as she drove along the ASEAN lane.
“I removed the divider cones! Then all other motorists behind me followed! MMDA thinks I’m official ASEAN delegate! If you can’t beat them, join them!” Lopez wrote on her official Facebook account.
The incident went viral on social media and drew reactions and bad comments from netizens, prompting Lopez to offer a public apology.
“Sorry to those who got hurt and affected,” said the actress, adding that she is willing to face the consequences of her mistake, and said she hopes the other violators of the traffic rule will be punished as well.
Lopez said “My intention is simply not to breach the security because I was talking to an MMDA official. If there is an intention to breach security I wouldn’t have to talk to him. You will just go ahead and do what you want.”
Lopez said she was not the only one who went against the traffic rule. She claimed that during the traffic mess on Nov. 11, she asked a traffic enforcer to allow her to drive in the ASEAN lane but the enforcer declined, saying her car had no sticker saying she could use it.
Lopez said she saw buses and taxis behind her that were already using the ASEAN lane.
She asked the traffic enforcer why the other bigger vehicles were allowed to drive in the special lane.
The enforcer, however, had turned his back on her and instead approached the other vehicles who had already breached the traffic rule.
Lopez said that seeing other vehicles using the ASEAN lane prompted her to drive on it as well.
The MMDA is also looking into lapses on the part of MMDA enforcers that triggered Lopez to breach the lane.
