PAMPANGA, Philippines – In 4 days, stolen vehicles are "cleansed" and ready for dispatch to car dealers engaged in buy and sell of second-hand vehicles, a top police official in Central Luzon said Thursday.

“Malilinis ng sindikato ang isang nakaw na sasakyan sa loob ng apat na araw,” said Chief Superintendent Alan Purisima, Central Luzon regional police director, during a press conference as he presented to media 16 stolen motor vehicles recovered in separate operations in alleged safehouses of the Dominiguez carnap ring.

Purisima said self-confessed Dominguez group member Alfred Mendiola, a.k.a. Allan Torres, told police that the syndicate has contacts in a government agency in charge of facilitating the documents before a vehicle is rolled out of the safehouses.

The time frame, Purisima said, includes the time a vehicle was stolen up to its registration. He, however, declined to identify which region and unit of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) is engaged in this kind of irregularity.

“Part of the investigation is for us to come up with an ultimate solution to put an end to this trade,” said Purisima. “Perhaps we will change or revisit the system in terms of registration of second-hand vehicles”.

The Dominguez group has been tagged by police as responsible in the series of carjacking cases in Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog (Region 4) and Central Luzon (Region lll).

Citing present records, Purisima said an average of 20 – 30 motor vehicles are stolen in a month, or an average of one vehicle a day.

The Regional Highway Patrol Unit 3 (RHPU3) headed by Senior Superintendent Sheldon Jacaban advised victims of carjacking to immediately directly report to the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) for their vehicles to be immediately included in the national list of hot cars.

Jacaban said victims should bring with them original copy of the stolen vehicles' official receipts and certificates of registration (OR/CR) issued by the LTO.

Former RHPU3 regional chief and now Director of Pampanga Provincial Police Office, Senior Superintendent Edgardo Tinio, said the Dominguez Group has mutated into several groups and are now being watched closely by their operatives.

Tinio said some groups have been inactive, but they are still being closely monitored. -- Jess Malabanan