Actress Maria Isabel Lopez appeared before the Land Transportation Office (LTO) yesterday to answer for her unauthorized use of the designated ASEAN lane along EDSAon November 11. Here plea to the agency? To take her clean driving record into consideration.
According to a report by CNN Philippines, the former beauty queen made the request along with a 20% senior citizen discount, too. "Wala pa naman akong traffic violation sa driver's license ko. Sana lang kung ano man 'yung penalty na ipapataw sa akin, bigyan niyo naman ako ng kaunting senior citizen discount, 20%," she was reported as saying.
Lopez also added that she had no intention of breaking the law, saying she spoke with a traffic enforcer before using the ASEAN lane: "If there's an intention to breach security, I wouldn't have talked to him. You'll just go ahead and do what you want."
Still, Lopez admits that she made a mistake entering the lane, as well as for posting her actions on social media. "Nagkakamot ng ulo and in the middle of our conversation, iniwan ako. So 'yun nga lang aminado naman ako, my mistake. Sabi ko, 'Ay Sir, okay na padaanin mo na ako.' So inurong ko na 'yung cone."
Never mind the fact that Lopez, at only 55 years old, is not yet eligible for a senior citizen discount. Regardless of her age, it doesn't look like government agencies will be letting her walk away scot-free from the incident. Earlier this week, NCRPO regional director Oscar Albayalde even called for the revocation of Lopez's driver's license.
The report says the LTO will release its decision on Lopez's case on November 23. Do you think the agency should go easy on her? Let us know in the comments.
This story originally appeared on Topgear.com.ph.
* Minor edits have been made by the Femalenetwork.com editors.
