ANTIDOTES FOR FIXERS AND FIXING ACTIVITIES
VOL. XVI1 NO.10 December 21 – 27 , 2013
Sometime before 2007, one DOTC-CAR regional director confessed to me that he could not possibly stop fixing activities in his agency because there is no law that punishes the fixers and fixing activities. What he did not say, however, is that fixing activities has always been prohibited by government policy in all its offices and agencies. Nevertheless, if he were still a director today, he won’t be invoking the same excuse because there is now such a law— Republic Act No. 9485 entitled: The Anti Red Tape Act of 2007.
In the same vein, the present Regional Director, Ms. Celina Claver, certainly can not offer the same excuse for, there is now such law and under said law, the criminal liability for fixers is penalty of imprisonment not exceeding six (6) years or a fine not less than P20,000.00 but not more than P200,000.00, or both fine and imprisonment. On the other hand, personnel in collusion with fixers is now punishable by dismissal and perpetual disqualification from public office.
Ironically, it appears that under a Memorandum issued on 4 September 2013 by Director Claver to all DOTC-CAR personnel entitled: FIXERS ERADICATION CAMPAIGN, supposedly issued to complement R.A. 9485, she is actually legalizing fixing activities and legitimizing transactions made by fixers—— by merely requiring presentation of special power of attorney (SPA) from any person representing or transacting in behalf of the actual owners of motor vehicles and applicants. Since SPA can be secured easily from a hospitable notary public for a fee of P50.00, the Memorandum, instead of eradicating the fixers, is causing them to multiply.
If DOTC-CAR is truly serious in its campaign to eradicate the fixers, I would say that it should try to discover more antidotes to control if not entirely eradicate fixing activities which has become a culture in the LTO and the LTFRB. She could try the following:
a) adoption and resolute implementation of the policy that all persons, whether or not authorized by SPA, should not be allowed to transact business in her offices with unrestricted regularity (like more than once a day or several times a week), otherwise, the persons transacting in behalf of the principal would already be engaged in fixing;
b) forthe regional director to adopt a methodical monitoring and rotation of personnel to forestall excessive familiarity which graduates to collusions with fixers (fixing activities will not exist even for a day without complicity between personnel and fixers).
If Director Claver can eliminate fixing activities in her turf, a gargantuan job indeed, she could still be the best regional director DOTC-CAR will ever have.
Sana nga magawa nya ito! Pag nangyari yun, hapi kami!
