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The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has started working with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to address the carjacking problem in Metro Manila and some other parts of the country.

In a chance interview in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Monday, DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo said he already contacted LTO chief Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres to map out measures, both short and long-terms, to address the carjacking issue.

”We have requested their assistance so that we can come up with complete information. She (Torres) said she will conduct her own investigation,” said Robredo, who earlier expressed belief that carjacking syndicates might have their cohorts at the LTO and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

”We want our investigation to be very thorough, this should not be a media game. This is purely investigative work to get to the bottom of this and figure out a way to stop this,” Robredo added.

Last Jan. 12, car trader Emerson Lozano, a son of lawyer Oliver Lozano, along with his driver Ernane Sensil, went missing after meeting a prospective buyer of his Kia Carnival in Quezon City.

Two days later, the burned body of Sensil was discovered in La Paz, Tarlac while Lozano’s charred body was recovered at a portion of the megadike in Porac, Pampanga the following day. Lozano’s van was also recovered burned in Bataan.

On Jan. 14, another car trader, Venson Evangelista, also went missing after allowing a test-drive to a supposed buyer of his Toyota Land Cruiser, also in Quezon City.

Evangelista’s charred body was recovered days later in Cabanatuan City.

The PNP has tagged the notorious Dominguez carjacking group as behind Evangelista’s kidnap-slaying as confessed by two members of the gang -– Alfred Mendiola and Ferdinand Parulan, who are both under police custody.

The two suspects named Raymond Dominguez, leader of the carjacking group, as the brains behind the Evangelista killing. Mendiola admitted to be the one who posed as buyer of Evangelista’s high-end vehicle on Jan. 14.  - pna

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