Man collapses, dies while at LTO in Laguna

A man had collapsed and later on died while at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) branch in Pila, Laguna, GMA News' Tina Panganiban-Perez reported on Balitanghali on Monday.

A separate report on Balita Pilipinas identified the deceased as Rubert Racal, who was at the LTO to apply for a student's license.

According to Desmond Dalanon, who uploaded the video of the incident on the Internet, the man had been in line for hours and may have succumbed from hunger.

"'Di ko sure kung 'di pa siya nakakakain kasi nga alas-dos na nang hapon 'yun nu'ng nag-collapse siya. May sakit sa puso naman daw talaga," Dalanon said on Balitanghali.

Dalanon doubted that the man died from the heat as the office had a functioning airconditioning unit.

An applicant tried to perform CPR on the victim but the victim was no longer responsive, prompting LTO staff to bring him to the hospital. The man, who was not identified in the report, eventually perished.

The Balita Pilipinas report, however, said the LTO has denied that Racal died while in queuing.

Citing the security guard, the report said Racal went home as the requirements he brought with him was incomplete. He then returned to the LTO to submit the additional requirements.

It said Racal was allowed to leave the office to have lunch. It was when he returned to the LTO that he suffered a stroke. Racal's brother has confirmed that he has a heart ailment, and perhaps he was not able to take his maintenance medicine on schedule.

The LTO branch said it did everything it could to help Racal in his application.

According to Dalanon, applicants usually have to spend hours in line at the LTO branch in Pila.

"Pipila sila ng alas-kuwatro o alas-singko ng umaga kasi nagka-cutoff nga agad sila (LTO)," he said.

He said the numbers given to the applicants were virtually useless because applicants who sought assistance from fixers were allegedly allowed to cut in line.

GMA News contacted the head of the LTO branch but he refused to issue a statement for the meantime. —KBK, GMA News