Owner of car involved in ‘road rage’ summoned

THE Land Transportation Office (LTO-7) wants to start its investigation on Monday, into the road rage incident last Wednesday involving the driver of a Honda Civic and a real estate broker who was driving his car.

They sent a subpoena to a certain Leonardo Laya Jr., the registered owner of the Honda Civic with plate number YKG 837, but it seems the owner lives in Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte, even if the car is registered in Cebu.

According to Joel Maloloy-on, LTO operations chief, the subpoena was sent through courier yesterday, asking Laya to appear on Monday before the LTO.

“We are inviting the owner of the vehicle to identify who was the driver involved in the incident,” Maloloy-on told Cebu Daily News.

“We hope that the owner would attend. If he would fail to attend on Monday, then we will send another subpoena,” Maloloy-on said.

If the owner will not cooperate, then Maloloy-on said they will not be able to transact business at the LTO regional office nor can they renew their registration.

‘Blotter report’

‘The complainant, Patrick Bitoy, posted his complaint on his Facebook account, including the video that he took of the Honda Civic.

He then went to the Mabolo Police Station on Thursday to enter the incident on the police blotter.

SPO2 Louie Tanggol, desk officer of Mabolo Police Station confirmed that Bitoy, 32, a real estate broker and a resident of Barangay Banawa, Cebu City reported the incident at their station.

According to Bitoy’s claim, which he entered in the police blotter, at around 1:30 a.m. along Archbishop Reyes Street in Barangay Bario Luz, Cebu City, a certain Leogin Laya, who was driving the Honda Civic, went out of his car, bringing with him a baseball bat, and cursed him and threatened him.

Apparently, the driver of the Honda Civic overtook Bitoy and nearly grazed his car. In his annoyance, Bitoy honked his horn and turned his headlights to high, which allegedly irritated the Honda Civic driver.

Bitoy’s FB post had more than 13,000 likes and 14,788 shares as of 4 p.m. yesterday.

The 55-second video which showed the suspect bringing his baseball bat now has close to three million views.

Bitoy in a text message to Cebu Daily News yesterday said that they had no chance to talk with the involved driver.

“But his side wanted to meet up with me in private and settle the issue. As a safety precaution, I declined and told them to wait for the subpoena from LTO,” Bitoy said.

Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, netizens and Bitoy’s colleague identified the suspect.

“I can forgive him ra man, but he has to answer the law for what he has done,” Bitoy added.

He decided to pursue his complaint to prevent the same situation from happening again.

“It could have happened to anybody. What if it happened to a lady driver, or an elderly and worse with a heart problem. Hope this will be an example to the public that losing our cool when driving may get us in serious trouble,” Bitoy added.

As of this writing, CDN is still finding ways to get the side of Laya.