MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has ordered the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to hold the implementation of mandatory private motor vehicle inspection center (PMVIC) testing.

DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade ordered the suspension of the implementation of Memorandum Circular SC 2021-02, which is the creation of Geographic Areas of Responsibility (GAOR) issued on July 5, 2021. This is amid issues surrounding the said memorandum.

Tugade also directed the LTO to conduct an immediate and exhaustive review of the policy.

Senator Grace Poe on Monday (August 23) has expressed her disappointment over the reimplementation of mandatory PMVIC. She said that the testing is very costly which is a challenge for motorists especially amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

“An official communication sent by Governor Villafuerte of Camarines Sur to the DOTr claimed that, on the ground, the usual emission test is still cheaper than the PMVIC test,” she said.

With this, Tugade directed the LTO to maintain the previous registration process where motorists can choose between a PMVIC and a private emission testing center (PETC) for the required vehicle inspection.

“Secretary Tugade recognizes the need for a smoother and more efficient manner of implementation of the GAOR policy, while also taking into consideration the current COVID-19 situation which hampers the required vehicle registration process,” according to the DOTr.

The DOTr was also able to convince PMVIC owners to lower their inspection rate from P1,500 to P600 for light vehicles, and P500 for motorcycles, which are similar to rates collected by a PETC. Reinspection or retest fees were likewise waived. -AAC

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) reported in its 2020 Annual Audit Report that more than eight million motorcycle plates dating back from 2014 to 2020 remained undistributed.

The report also said that from 2015 to 2020, 2.6 million motor vehicles still need replacements of their license plates.

The Land Transportation Office (LTO), however, said the agency has already taken measures to address the issue and has, in fact, reduced the backlog.

“I think nung ginawa yon, medyo audit ng much earlier dates yon eh. Kaya mayroon nang pagbabago doon. Kaya siguro yung 8 million na yon, na-reduce na. Para i-explain din namin kung ano na yung nai-comply namin out of that,” LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvantez said.

“But again, we honor the report of COA and we’ll attend to the issues that have been pointed out in that report,” he added.

Asec. Galvantez said one of the problems they encounter is the funding to be used for the production of replacement license plates based on the new measurement implemented in 2018.

The LTO has also released a statement on Friday afternoon to further clarify the issue.

It said that the contract in question was signed in 2014 between the then Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and PPI-JKG Philippines, Inc. (PPI-JKG) for the delivery of 5.2 million pairs of Motor Vehicle (MV) plates and 9.9 million pieces of motorcycle plates, to supply the LTO license plate requirements up to 2017.

The LTO said that out of the deliverables, over 4 million pairs of MV plates and more than 7.2 million pieces of MC plates were undelivered.

In 2015, LTO’s payment to the PPI-JKG was disallowed by COA which resulted in the suspension of the payment to the supplier which, in turn, led to the stoppage of the production and delivery of the license plates from the LTO.

The agency added that due to the disallowance, the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on the distribution of the produced plates following scrutiny by several lawmakers.

The statement further said that the Duterte administration was confronted with the production and distribution backlog of millions of license plates when it took over in 2016.

DOTr granted the request of the LTO to acquire funds for a new contract for the production of license plates while waiting for the resolution on the COA disallowance of the previous contract.

It was in 2018 when the Notice of Disallowance was lifted. In the same year, the agency started the rehabilitation of the LTO Plate Making Plant that expedited the production of license plates that used to be outsourced.

It was also in the same year that the DOTr-LTO started the release of motor vehicle plates registered in July 2016.

Currently, the statement said, the LTO, continues to prevent a recurrence of backlogs in the issuance of MV license plates and MC plates.

In its latest data, LTO recorded a total of 3,940,705 pairs of motor vehicle plates produced as of 10 August 2021.

For motorcycle plates, LTO’s latest record shows that as of 10 August 2021, a total of 6,019,150 pieces were produced by the agency from 2014. Of this number, 3,649,114 were produced from 2018 featuring the new design of MC plates.

The LTO further said that the reported backlog in the production of plates is due in large part to the lack of budget of the LTO.

From the budget it requested for 2020 amounting to PhP1,869,274,000, only PhP696,747,000 was granted.

And for the budget that the agency requested for 2021 of PhP3,574,755,000, only PhP925,412,000 was allocated.

The LTO stressed that out of this allocation, only PhP 736,747,000 was actually released to the agency which, it said, would only be sufficient to supply the license plates for the calendar year 2021, and not the backlog.

To date, the LTO has requested a budget allocation of PhP2,616,364,198.17 for the calendar year 2022 so that the agency can meet the demand to produce 16 million license plates by June 30, 2022.

The agency assured that the current LTO administration is doing everything it can to address all the MC and MV plate backlogs. —/mbmf (with details from UNTV Correspondent Asher Cadapan, Jr.)

Muling magbabalik ang Land Transportation Office (LTO) on wheels sa Parañaque Integrated Terminal exchange sa Sabado, Hulyo 10.

Ang LTO on wheels ay One-Stop Shop ng ahensiya para sa mga nais mag-renew ng rehistro ng kanilang sasakyan.

Maaari ding mag-avail ng iba pang serbisyo ng LTO gaya ng smoke emission testing at third party insurance.

Ayon sa ahensya, minarapat nitong palawigin ang serbisyo ng LTO on wheels upang maiwasan nang pumunta at magsiksikan sa LTO offices ang mga motorista.

Wala namang kailangang pre-registration para sa makapag-avail ng LTO services. Kailangan lamang dalhin ang record ng dating rehistro at ng mismong sasakyan para sa inspeksyon ng road worthiness nito.

Magsisimula ang LTO on wheels ng alas-otso ng umaga hanggang alas-tres ng hapon sa gate 2 second floor ng PITX. – RRD (mula sa ulat ni Correspondent Joan Nano)