A relative of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos was arrested for colorum operation violation earlier today.
The suspect, identified as alias Jaz Abalos, was apprehended during the entrapment operation conducted by the composite team of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), DILG, and Department of Transportation.
MMDA Acting Chairman Atty. Don Artes said the arrest is part of the intensified efforts to weed out colorum vehicles in the metropolis.
“The agency will not stop its operations against colorum vehicles plying the major thoroughfares of Metro Manila,” Artes stressed.
According to MMDA Special Operations Group-Strike Force Officer-in-Charge Gabriel Go, the composite team conducted intensified operations against colorum vehicles along Araneta Avenue in Cubao, Quezon City.
Authorities caught a passenger van with an expired vehicle registration. Passengers paid P200 to the van operators for transporting them to Laguna.
MMDA Assistant General Manager for Operations Asec. David Angelo Vargas, meanwhile, said that alias Jaz Abalos went to the MMDA Head Office to ‘negotiate’ with regards the colorum violation and explicity claimed that she is the niece of Secretary Abalos.
“Upon verification, it turned out that the woman is a relative of the DILG chief. She was recognized by one of the members of Abalos family through her photo and name,” Vargas said.
Vargas immediately informed Secretary Abalos that the woman name-dropped him to evade apprehension.
Further, the authorities also nabbed the driver of the colorum passenger van named Antonio Mirasol who presented a fake driver’s license.
They are facing charges of falsification of public documents with conspiracy, estafa, resistance and disobedience, and light threat.
