Transport alliance wants a stop to PMVIP
Program tainted with corruption, NPTC tells Speaker Romualdez
SEVERAL transport groups and alliances have asked Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime Bautista and the House of Representatives to immediately act and put a stop to insistence of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to implement the ‘Private Motor Vehicle Inspection Program’ (PMVIP) for being illegal and for allegedly being tainted with corruption.
In a 10-page letter to Bautista dated February 6, 2023, a copy of which was furnished Pinoy Exposé, the ‘Ang Kaligtasan sa Kalsada Association’ (AKSK), ‘National Public Transport Coalition’ (NPTC), ‘National Confederation of Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines’ (NACTODAP), ‘Motorcycle Rights Organization’ (MRO), ‘Arangkada Riders Alliance of the Philippines’ (ARAP) and the ‘Catanuan (Quezon) Federation of Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association’ (CAFTODA), enumerated the reasons why Bautista should immediately declare as “null and void” all orders and circulars issued by his predecessor in support of the PMVIC that, they note, is by itself a contravention of the provisions of RA 8479 or the ‘Clean Air Act of 1999.’
In particular, the groups want Bautista to recall Department Order (DO) 2018-019, DO 2019-002, Memorandum Circular (MC) 2018-2158 “and other issuances related to the inspection of motor vehicles via private motor vehicle inspection centers.”
Ariel Lim, the prime mover behind NPTC, said recall of the above documents has become necessary as their swift implementation were done “despite the absence of an exhaustive public consultation and (even) in direct violation of existing laws.”
The result, he said, “severely affected” the transport sector’s stakeholders, including operators of private emission testing centers (PETCs) that supporters of the PMVICs want to replace and eliminate in order to corner the business of testing and inspection for themselves.
In 2002, the PETC program was created jointly by the DOTr, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in compliance with RA 8749.
It was regarded as a “phasing-in solution” with regards to RA 8749 pending the creation of the country’s ‘National Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program’ (NMVIP) to be crafted jointly by the 3 departments.
Lim said official data showed that by 2019, the number of PETCs has increased to 1,800 but is now drastically down to 643 with the LTO pushing instead for the PMVICs.
He added the closures were “oppressive” as it was done starting in 2020, at the heigh of the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lim said the closing down by the LTO of PETCs in favor of PMVICs that remain very few in numbers up to now resulted to motorists and transport groups travelling long distances to undergo the required emission test.
Aside from sidelining the DENR and the DTI in relation to creation of policies on emission testing and inspection thru the PMVICs, the groups also noted that even TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) was left out by the DOTr under Sec. Art Tugade.
Under the NMVIP, TESDA was suppose to create a definite technical course on motor vehicle inspection aimed at creating a pool of local experts on the subject.
Letter to Romualdez
In an earlier letter to House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez dated January 11, 2023, Lim not only detailed the reasons why they are opposed to the PMVIP but further alleged that the whole program stinks of corruption.
He noted that an ‘Authorization Committee’ formed by the DOTr in 2019 to approve applications for PMVICs approved “all or almost all” applicants that decided to purchase equipment supplied by an “influential individual.”
He added that applicants were made to shell out P5 million as a “cut” for a top official at the DOTr with the grease money “inserted” in the price of the equipment for the testing of motor vehicles. As a result, from a price range of between P5 to P7 million, the price of the equipment was jacked up to P12 million.
Lim also reminded Romualdez that widespread protests by motorists reluctantly pushed the DOTr to reduce the cost of testing and inspection per vehicle by PMVICs from P1,800 to P600 over accusation of overpricing as the cost of PETC services is only P600.
