LTO looking into how stroke-stricken cabbie in viral slapping video got new driver’s license

The cabbie who was slapped by a call center agent in a video that has since gone viral is now also the subject of scrutiny by the Land Transportation Office.

The LTO is stumped how Virgilio Doctor managed to renew his driver's license within a year of suffering a stroke.

"Hindi naman natin fino-focus siya. How was he able to renew his license in 2015, could it be may lapses ang LTO? If there are lapses, then let them answer for their lapses,” LTO Law Enforcement Services Director Francis Ray Almora said.

Almora said the agency was looking into Doctor’s fitness to drive “protect the riding public” who may be endangered should the stroke recur,

He said the move was not meant to single out the 52-year-old but to see if LTO doctors and personnel may have committed lapses when they approved Doctor’s license renewal.

Almora talked with reporters following a license revocation hearing against Cherish Sharmaine Interior, who allegedly hit Doctor during a recent traffic altercation in Quezon City.

“It is to address possible lapses sa LTO. Hindi naman natin fino-focus siya. How was he able to renew his license in 2015, could it be may lapses ang LTO? If there are lapses, then let them answer for their lapses,” Almora said.

Doctor’s lawyer Antonio Intong Jr. said his client had already rested after suffering what he called "a mild stroke."

Doctor has not been involved in major traffic accidents since, Intong said.

Doctor himself said he could drive, and that it was only his speech that was negatively impacted by the stroke.

When asked what he would do after the hearing, he said: “As usual, pagtapos ng hearing, makapagmaneho rin, makapagtrabaho.”

Netizens threw their support behind Doctor at the expense of the other party—Interior, who had also filed criminal charges against Doctor as well—after a video showed Interior trying to dismantle the taxi cab’s side mirror and reaching inside the driver’s window and appearing to hit him in the face.

Interior has denied physically hurting Doctor, saying she was only pointing at him and reacting after he had almost bumped their vehicle. She has asked the LTO to dismiss the license revocation case for lack of merit.

Interior was a no-show at Wednesday’s hearing, citing security and safety reasons for her non-appearance. She has received threats on social media on the heels of the viral video, she said in her position paper.

The LTO will likely come out with a verdict on the case on the second week of January, Almora said. —NB, GMA News