Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon officially dismissed on Monday the five Land Transportation Office (LTO) personnel caught manhandling a farmer from his motorcycle in Panglao, Bohol last Friday.
“We are, effective today, dismissing the law enforcers involved in the incident in Panglao, Bohol,” Dizon said at a press conference. “They are hereby dismissed immediately. We don’t have to prolong this issue.”
Dizon maintained that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) will not tolerate abuse of authority from agency personnel, adding that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said that as civil servants, government personnel are the “people’s servants and not their lords.”
The DOTr chief tasked Transport Assistant Secretary for Road Transport Retired Col. Jojo Reyes over the weekend to personally investigate the incident.
“No one can justify the violence we saw displayed by our law enforcers,” Dizon said.
Reyes said the 57-year-old farmer was hospitalized due to the incident.
In a related development, Dizon likewise ordered the creation of a task force to conduct a “sweeping review” of the use of LTO and Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) enforcers of motorcycles. Reyes will lead the said task force.
Dizon argued that the review of the current policies and regulations may be a source of abuse of enforcers in apprehending violators, giving them “too much discretion.”
“We need to review our current regulations because it might be a source of abusive behaviors by some of our enforcers,” Dizon said. “We want to understand if the current policies are actually providing opportunities for abuse,” he added.