Deakin license to be suspended 3 months, fine of PHP 13,000

The first few weeks of January have indeed been unusual for the motoring scene because of an online debate initiated by a post of media personality James Deakin.

The short recap is that the license of his son, Daniel, was confiscated by a Skyway traffic enforcer for violating the double yellow line at Quezon Avenue exit, followed by a complaint about excessively difficult processes to retrieve the same at the Land Transportation Office over the last two weeks of December due to the holidays (hence the argument for the working days vs calendar days) and the need to present an OR/CR. The bad news for Deakin was that the vehicle being driven by his son was a media loaner unit, and it was still unregistered.

The social media firestorm has since settled a bit after a call from the Department of Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez to James Deakin, telling him about how the agency will implement (if possible) a 15 working days policy, as well as reiterating an already standing policy to not confiscate licenses (except if there’s a problem with another matter, like if the OR/CR can’t be presented).

So it was a point to the Deakin camp over the matter, but there is another that needed resolving: What came of the Show Cause Order issued by Assistant Secretary Markus Lacanilao, the chief of the LTO?

As you may have also seen on social media, the LTO delivered an SCO directly to the Deakin residence after the agency found out that the vehicle was unregistered, which itself also carries a reckless driving penalty on top of other penalties. At the same time, the company that owns and sent the unregistered vehicle to James Deakin (and was being driven by Daniel Deakin) was also issued an SCO.

Now here’s the major update: Land Transportation Office chief Markus Lacanilao told us directly that there already is a resolution following the visit of all parties involved at the LTO to hear their explanation. While LTO cannot share the Resolution document with us, they did give us the penalties to be meted out. 

For Daniel Deakin, Asec. Lacanilao says his license will be suspended for three months, and the fine is set at PHP 13,000.

At first, it was just going to be a reckless driving and disregarding traffic sign kind of ticket, but the attention online prompted the LTO to do its due diligence and dig a bit more. The investigation (CCTV review, really) showed that a reckless driving penalty for using an unregistered vehicle on the road was warranted. It’s a stiff penalty, but there will be plenty of days (calendar/working) from now until then to resolve and retrieve the license.

For the dealer that issued the car there will also be a penalty, but we will wait for further clarification.

But there is, however, one more person who was penalized in all of this, and that was the Skyway enforcer who apprehended the young driver. He has had his deputization as an enforcer revoked by the LTO because that apprehension was itself improperly done.

Why improper? Being that the driver was unable to present a valid OR/CR, the vehicle that Daniel was driving should have been recommended by the enforcer for impounding then and there. 

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