LTO revokes Lopez’s license
Actress Maria Isabel Lopez had her license invalidated because she violated the rules for using the driving lane reserved for dignitaries during the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit earlier this month.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority spokesperson Celine Pialago announced early this week that the Land Transportation Office (LTO) ordered the cancellation of Lopez’s driver’s license. She was also prohibited from acquiring a driver’s license in the next two years.
She was also ordered to pay the fine of P8,000.
During the Asean Summit, Lopez posted a video on her Facebook account where she could be heard screaming, “Yeeeee, Asean, here I come!” while entering the reserved lane for the Asean VIPs.
She also said that she removed the divider cones on the lanes.
According to Rappler, the LTO accused Lopez of putting the lives of the delegates, the commuters and herself in danger.
According to the LTO resolution, the violations made by Lopez were very “serious and apparently very persuasive that they cannot be simply swept under the rug.”
Lopez appeared before LTO Law Enforcement Service Director Francis Almora last Nov. 16 to explain her side and said that she was provoked to violate the traffic protocol because she needed a “bladder break” after having been on the road for hours.
She then apologized but still argued that she violated the rules because she had been made to feel like a “second- class citizen” by the designation of a special lane for the Asean Summit.