SPECIAL Envoy on Transnational Crime Markus Lacanilao, known for his role in the turnover of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte to the International Criminal Police (Interpol) to face charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier this year, was named as the new chairman of the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
His new designation is part of the recent major leadership revamp initiated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in three attached agencies of the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro announced on Friday that Lacanilao will replace Vigor Mendoza II as the new head of the LTO.
Lacanilao made it to the headlines after he was held in the Senate in April for contempt after he maintained he has no knowledge if Duterte was presented before the courts before he was turned over to the Interpol.
Duterte is currently detained at the Hague, where he is facing crimes against humanity charges before the ICC in connection with the deaths of at least 6,000 drug suspects in the bloody anti-criminality campaign of his administration.
Mendoza was designated as the new chairman of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
Mendoza has been a board member of the LTFRB and a former representative of the 1-United Transport Alliance Koalisyon (1-UTAK) party-list.
Outgoing LTFRB chair Teofilo Guadiz III was transferred to the Office of Transport Cooperatives (OTC) as its new head.
Guadiz was temporarily suspended in 2023 due to an allegation by former LTFRB executive assistant Jeffrey Gallos Tumbado that he was involved in corrupt practices within the agency. He was later reinstated to his post after Tumbado recanted his initial claims against him.
As of press time, Malacañang has yet to disclose the reason for the latest leadership revamp in the attached agencies of DOTr.