LTO wants Meta to help take down Facebook fixers

It is no secret that fixers still exist in many Land Transportation Office (LTO) branches across the country. Many of these fixers are also present in social media.

In exchange for a “service fee”, these fixers often offer motorists non-appearance services to LTO’s transactions that require such. Their services are often not guaranteed and may end up being fake.

The LTO has had enough of these fixers and is now working with Meta (Facebook) to bring these fixers down.

LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor D. Mendoza II has ordered the agency’s legal department to strengthen coordination with Facebook Philippines in taking down accounts that offer online assistance for driver’s licenses and motor vehicle registration transactions.

Mendoza said he already tasked all Regional Directors and District Heads to monitor Facebook and other social media platforms for groups or individuals that offer “palakad”, or online assistance for all LTO transactions.

“We will also tap all our employees to immediately report to their district heads any accounts that offer LTO online assistance. We are one family and it is everyone’s obligation to protect the name of our agency,” said Mendoza.

Incentives to employees planned

Mendoza added that the agency plans to give incentives to LTO employees who can identify fixers. “We are also planning to give incentives to LTO employees whose information could lead to the arrest of these online scammers and take down their social media accounts,” he added.

Mendoza explained that the LTO has already complied with the directive of Department of Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, based on the marching order of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., to digitalize all the transactions in the agency as part of the improvement of services to the Filipino people.

From student permits, driver’s license applications and renewal to motor vehicle registration and renewal, Mendoza said all of them can now be done online through the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS).