By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz

PRESS BRIEFING. Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon (left) and Land Transportation Office chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II lead a press briefing in San Juan City on Thursday (May 22, 2025). Mendoza on Friday (May 23) said the driver involved in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport crash on May 1 has been found guilty of reckless driving by the LTO, leading to a four-year revocation of his license and a PHP2,000 fine. (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

MANILA – The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has revoked the license of the driver involved in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) crash that killed two people on May 4.

In a five-page decision signed by the LTO chief, Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II, the black sports utility vehicle driver from Batangas was found guilty of reckless driving, fined PHP2,000, and had his license revoked for four years.

“Applying the above-mentioned provisions and jurisprudence to the facts of the case, the respondent-driver committed reckless driving that endangers the property or the safety or rights of the victim, given the gravity of his actions,” the decision read.

In a statement on Friday, Mendoza said the fine and license revocation are the maximum penalty allowed by the law for an improper person to operate a motor vehicle.

The decision was made after the driver did not submit any statement to defend himself or explain his side on the charges of reckless driving and being an improper person to operate a motor vehicle.

He reminded motorists that driving is “not a right but a privilege” that can be revoked in cases of violations of the existing laws and road safety rules and regulations.

Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said his office will assist the families of the two victims in the NAIA crash in filing civil cases against the driver.

“Hindi po natin sila iiwan, tuloy-tuloy po tayo (We won’t leave them behind, we will continue assisting them),” Dizon said in an interview at the Office of the Clerk of Court in Antipolo City during the filing of civil cases of the families of the SCTEX (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway) bus crash victims on May 1.

The victims of the NAIA Parañaque crash were a four-year-old daughter of an overseas Filipino worker from Lipa, Batangas, and a 29-year-old man from Hagonoy, Bulacan.

Autopsy showed the man died due to blunt force trauma to the head and spinal cord while the girl also died of blunt force trauma to the head and left lower extremities. (PNA)