Yes, Virginia, the LTO is in very good hands

LTO chief Virginia Torres

Shortly after Virginia P. Torres was appointed by President Benigno C. Aquino III to head the Land Transportation Office (LTO), rumors swirled that she got the plum post because she was one of the shooting buddies (“kabarilan”) of the newly elected President.  Political pundits noted that many of the coveted government positions were being given to the President’s three K’s (“kaklase” or classmate, “kabarkada” or gangmate and “kabarilan”).

But speaking not-so-long ago at the Pulong-Bulungan media forum in the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Assistant Secretary Torres set the record straight. She had never met Aquino, then the congressman representing Tarlac, until he visited her LTO office one day and noticed that it was uncomfortably warm because there was no air-conditioning.

Representative Aquino promised to donate air-conditioning units and he kept his promise. So the next time he visited Tarlac, Torres narrated, she wanted to thank him. It so happened that he was target shooting at the range when she went to thank him, and thus began the urban legend that she was a shooting buddy of the future President.

But in an email last week, Torres had a slightly different recollection of how she first met P-Noy many years back when she was still in the Tarlac LTO. “The roof of our district office was then leaking and I approached him for funding assistance,” she wrote. “He never hesitated and in a few months’ time, I already had funds to repair the roof.  He visited the office and was happy to see that all funds were accounted for and for the purpose requested.”

As for the “shooting buddy” story, she replied: “I am not exactly his shooting buddy. He had a passion for guns and I admired him for that even when he was still a congressman.  He had known me earlier because of the funding request I made.”

Carlos, AAP top guns Johnny Angeles and Gus Lagman in the recent inaugural meeting of Usapan AAP.

Tough. My first impression of Assistant Secretary Torres was that she is a tough, hard-working, highly professional and unpretentious female career government official, although even then she was controversial because of her dispute with Stradcom, the LTO’s official Information Technology partner for many years.

Torres has been working with the LTO for almost 32 years in various capacities, starting as a cashier, law enforcer and then adjudicator at the Tarlac LTO from December 1980 to March 1994, as transport regulation officer from August 1994 to February 2003, and as senior transport regulation officer from February 2003 to July 2010. On July 12, 2010, she was appointed assistant secretary, LTO Central.

“I was surprised when I learned of the appointment,” Torres says.  “This was the first time that a career employee was appointed to the highest position at LTO.  I would like to believe that the President wanted professionalism and integrity enhanced at the LTO.”

Aside from her more than three decades of service at the LTO, Torres’ educational background prepared her for the top post. Born in La Paz, Tarlac on May 23, 1953, she graduated from grade school and high school in her hometown with honors. Afterward, she earned three Bachelor’s degrees: in Education (cum laude)  and in Commerce from the Nicanor Memorial Colleges in Paniqui, Tarlac, and a Law degree from the University of Pangasinan in Dagupan City.  Plus a Master’s degree and a doctorate in Public Administration from the Tarlac State University.

Usapan AAP. I got to meet Torres the second time when she accepted the invitation of the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) to guest on Sept. 28 at  the first Usapan AAP, a new series of informal brunch-time roundtable talks with the media and government and private individuals involved in promoting road safety.  She arrived early at the AAP Edsa office  because she had a meeting with transport leaders, which takes place every last Friday of the month  at 11:00 a.m.  When I approached to welcome her, she surprised me by greeting me with a hug. (By the way, she also hugged Philippine Star columnist Cito Beltran, who emceed the  first Usapan AAP.)

Torres, her chief executive assistant lawyer Raul Panlasigui, AAP vice president Johnny Angeles, emcee Cito Beltran and  I had coffee in the board room before the start of the program. She answered the questions of Angeles and Beltran candidly and briefly, a preview of her performance at the Usapan AAP open forum during which lawyer Emerson Carlos, the Metro Manila Development Authority’s assistant general manager for operations, stood in for MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino who had to attend the opening of the Quezon Avenue-Araneta Avenue underpass.

At Usapan AAP, Torres fielded questions from the media about the licensing of electric vehicles, the Carabuena case, the revocation of a driver’s license, LTO inspection of motor vehicles before their registration, the delay in the issuance of license plates, and the validity and proper use of commemorative plates.

But it was the third time I met with Torres the following Monday morning that I really got to see the LTO chief up close and personal.  I arrived punctually at her LTO East Avenue office at 8 a.m., as she had informed me that she is in her office by eight.  I was told that she was attending the flag ceremony with LTO employees and would proceed directly to a meeting with LTO regional managers afterwards, but would drop in at some time.

After a while, Panlasigui entered the reception area and upon seeing me, ushered me into Torres’ large office.  There I was offered coffee and given newspapers (the Inquirer, Manila Bulletin and Philippine Star) to read.  After around 15 minutes, Torres walked in, followed by a retinue and several visitors who also had scheduled appointments.  Again, she greeted me with a hug.

Lunch. To make a long story short, I ended up having lunch with Torres and three of her female staff in her inner sanctum beside her office since the processing of the transaction I had gone to the LTO for required some hours of waiting.  At first, Torres invited me to lunch with her and the LTO regional managers in another place, but later she decided to have the food delivered to her inner sanctum as she had a plane to catch at 3 p.m.  She was going to Malaysia for a conference after returning only a week ago from a conference in Indonesia. Her office’s reception area was overflowing with visitors, including foreigners and news media, but she would have no time to see them all.

While Torres was busy entertaining visitors in her office, a female staff member told me that Torres follows a hectic schedule, tirelessly attending regional conferences on land transportation and road safety while balancing her day-to-day tasks as LTO chief.  Maybe she smokes because of the pressures of her job, the staff member surmised.  But later, during lunch, Torres announced proudly that she had been off cigarettes for five days in a row already.

During lunch, staff members approached with documents for her to read or sign and requests for her calling card from their friends. Torres is the kind of accommodating government official who gives friends her calling card after writing her cell phone number on the back.  A single mother, Torres has two children: Marvin, who is taking the Bar exams and Milkah, a licensed pilot.

Torres revealed that she has fielded more lady traffic enforcers “because I believe females have a way of handling irate motorists.”  Other than the driving academy for public utility vehicle drivers, the LTO has launched several projects to improve road safety.  She said she makes sure that the 2-hour seminar for traffic violators, especially reckless and over-speeding motorists, is strictly enforced.  By making it difficult for traffic violators to retrieve their licenses, she said, she aims to make them one-time violators. The seminar, which is required by law, focuses on traffic regulations and why drivers cannot afford to ignore or disobey them,

Inner sanctum. Torres’ favorite dish is dinengdeng, an Ilocano vegetable dish. She said it is nutritious and good for one’s health, so she orders it every time she takes lunch in her office.  Her inner sanctum has a private bathroom, a refrigerator, a round dining table, chairs, a sofa (a folding sofa bed?), a coffee table—furnishings like what I have seen in the inner sanctums of other government officials like the President’s Executive Secretary in Malacañang and the mayor of Makati City.  But hers also has a private staircase leading down to a door on the ground floor through which she can make a quick, unnoticed entry to or exit from her office.

Torres’ utter lack of airs became more evident when, after lunch, she changed her dress, pantyhose and shoes in preparation for her trip.  Other, more self-conscious women would have gone into the bathroom to change, but she changed near the sofa, giving last-minute instructions all the time while she was assisted by her staff

Then she invited me to exit with her and a few staff through the private stairway down to the ground floor where her car, the latest model Hyundai Tucson, was waiting to whisk her to the airport.  Before boarding her car, she gave me another hug.

Summing up, after seeing Assistant Secretary Virginia P. Torres on the job and up close and personal, one can only conclude that the LTO is in good hands.