Regional Director Victor Caindec of the Land Transportation Office (LTO-7). | CDND File Photo
CEBU CITY–The car dealer issued with a notice to explain by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Central Visayas (LTO-7) has expressed apology over the reported blame placed on the agency for the delay in the release of the certificate of registration (CR) for a vehicle bought last April.
LTO-7 issued a notice to explain to Isuzu Cebu Inc. dated October 3 after regional director Victor Caindec received a complaint through a text message from a buyer of one unit of Isuzu Dmax. The buyer reported that the delay in the release of the CR of the purchased vehicle was allegedly due to the dealer’s refusal to shell out money to the LTO.
“I was told that ‘LTO Regional Office 7 only processes papers for those who give padangog or padulas, extra sums of money. Since Isuzu does not give, all papers are made last priority, the reason why my CR is not yet available despite the lapse of months, more or less,” the buyer said.
Caindec then issued the notice to explain requiring the dealer to submit a written explanation or justification for the complaint within 24 hours.
“Please accept our sincere apologies for the inappropriate statement from one of our sales personnel regarding the cause of delay of the certificate of registration for an Isuzu customer,” wrote Steve Gingco, manager of Isuzu Cebu Inc., his reply dated October 4.
“It was not only inappropriate considering his rank-and-file position, but also unfair to your office and the agency, which has been supportive of our concerns on this issue,” Gingco added.
He stressed that the remarks of the sales executive did not “in any way” reflect the stand of Isuzu Cebu.
“With our high regard for you, your office and your agency, we do not tolerate any inappropriate behavior or comment from our employees, which may put your office in bad light,” Gingco said.
He disclosed that they are conducting an internal investigation on the said sales executive.
“Being a member of the Ayala group of companies, we uphold the principle of integrity in our core values, and will assure you that appropriate disciplinary sanctions will be enforced if deemed necessary,” according to Gingco.
“In this light, we are appealing to your good office for consideration on this case, with assurance that no similar incident will happen in the future,” he added.
Meanwhile, LTO-7 posted on its Facebook page a public advisory urging all owners of Isuzu vehicles purchased within the region that are still without any registration to submit a copy of invoices either through the LTO official email address (lto7actioncenter@gmail.com, or to the offices at Natalio Bacalso Avebue, Cebu City or at the Motor Vehicle Inspection Center at M. Logarta Street, Mandaue City.
This would enable LTO-7 to audit the submission of the dealers “vis-a-vis the actual records existing’ at the agency’s database, according to the advisory posted on October 4.
Yvonne Auza, the approving officer of Manufacturer, Assembler, Importer, Rebuilder, Dealer and other Entities (MAIRDOEs) accreditation who signed the advisory, also noted that LTO-7 has completed the Zero Backlog target for pending registration transactions prior to July 31, 2019.
“We are hopeful that there will be no complaints from clients of Isuzu, or any other car dealership network for that matter as regards unregistered units purchased prior to 31 July 2019,” Auza added. / dcb