The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Sunday has advised all motor vehicle owners to keep the LTO updated on change of ownership to avoid legal troubles in case of road rage and criminal activities.

LTO chief Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor D. Mendoza II reminded all motorists to keep the agency informed of any sale or change of ownership of any motor vehicle to avoid any legal trouble in cases of serious traffic accidents or criminal activities.

He explained that the name that appears in the registration data of any motor vehicle is always presumed as its owner and its driver, which means any investigation and liability is addressed to him or her.

“It is really important to keep the data of your motor vehicles updated in the LTO, especially in case of change of ownership. Because no matter what happens, you will still be investigated and chased because your name is in the LTO database,” Mendoza said.

He added that there were numerous cases in the past that motor vehicle owners would end up being issued with Show Cause Order or being investigated by the police after the vehicle they previously owned were involved in road rage and even criminal activities.

In the case of the fatal road rage incident in Makati City recently, for instance, a foreigner was issued with an SCO after he was presumed to be the driver of the Mercedes Benz since he is the registered owner based on the LTO data. Police even went to his registered address in Las Piñas City, but the driver turned out to be another person and was arrested in Pasig City.

The same incident happened in the case of the registered owner of the motorcycle used as the getaway motor vehicle of the gunman in the killing of an LTO official in Quezon City and it turned out that the motorcycle owner had already sold the motorcycle but was included in the investigation after he failed to update the ownership status of the motor vehicle.