(Eagle News) — The Land Transportation Office has asked actress Maria Isabel Lopez to submit a position paper that details why her license should not be revoked after she breached the Association of Southeast Asian lanes on Edsa and bragged about it on Facebook on Nov. 11.
LTO law enforcement service director Francis Almora said Lopez, who appeared before him on Thursday, has within the day to submit the position paper.
Within five days, Almora said the LTO would issue a decision.
In a radio interview, Maria Sol Taule, Lopez’s lawyer, said her client was “humble enough to accept her mistake.”
She noted that the revocation of her client’s driver’s license was too “harsh” a sanction, considering what she said was the actress’ clean traffic violations record prior to the Nov. 11 incident.
“Wala naman siyang tinatanggi doon sa nangyari,” Taule said.
“Driving with hazards ‘on’ at the #aseanlane. I removed the divider cones!! Then all the other motorists behind me followed! MMDA thinks I’m an official ASEAN delegate! If you can’t beat ’em, join them~ #nosticker #leadership,” Lopez had said in her post.
Although the actress has since issued an apology, she was heard justifying her act in media interviews, saying that she felt like a “second-class citizen” in her own country because of the traffic on Edsa.
Authorities, however, have for weeks prior to the ASEAN Summit, already warned motorists against passing through Edsa because of the tremendous traffic they were expecting on those three days.
