Lady village treasurer nabbed  for selling ‘fake’ driver’s licenses

By Jennifer P. Rendon 

A lady village official was arrested following an entrapment operation afternoon of March 28, 2023 in San Rafael, Iloilo.

Mary Jean Bama, 49, barangay treasurer of Ilongbukid, San Rafael, is accused of selling fake driver’s licenses.

Operatives of the municipal police stations of San Rafael, Cabatuan, San Rafael, and Lemery, the 2nd Iloilo Provincial Force Company, and the Land Transportation Office (LTO)-Region 6, led the entrapment following complaints from at least two suspects.

Atty. Gaudioso Geduspan II, LTO-6 assistant regional director, said a Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairman and a barangay kagawad claimed to have availed of the driver’s license being sold by Bama.

They later learned that they were given falsified licenses.

The two initially placed their complaint with the LTO satellite office in Barotac Viejo, Iloilo.

Recovered during the operation were 10 falsified driver’s licenses; three LTO official receipts, P1,000 subscribed or marked bills, P4,550 in fake money, and two mobile phones.

Geduspan said that the suspect apparently started her operation early this year.

“Her clients easily believed her because she’s a barangay official. She had no prior record or infraction,” he said.

Bama allegedly sold the license at P5,650.

If an applicant will go through the process, he or she will have to pay around P5,200, including the LTO seminar fee.

In appearance, the fake driver’s license looked real.

“It was falsified because the license number was issued to someone else,“ Geduspan said.

Bama has already told them her source of falsified licenses in Metro Manila. The unnamed source allegedly represented himself as an LTO employee.

Geduspan said the source would be charged for usurpation of authority.

On the other hand, Bama would be charged for 13 counts of Falsification of Private Documents and violation of Republic Act 11032 (Ease of Doing. Business and Efficient. Government Service. Delivery Act of 2018).