BAGUIO CITY – Some one hundred fifty-eight violators of land transportation laws were successfully apprehended by alert personnel of the Cordillera office of the Land Transportation Office (LTO-CAR) in less than two months which raised concern among officials on the compliance of motorists to the said laws during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
LTO-CAR regional director Francis Ray Almora stated that 104 individual were arrested for driving without possessing the appropriate licenses or driving with the wrong restriction code of their licenses, 43 persons were arrested for having unregistered motor vehicles or motorcycles and 11 individuals were nabbed for colorum vehicles or private vehicles operating as for hire.
He added that bulk of those who were arrested for driving without license are persons who were caught driving motorcycles even if they are in possession of student permits which is considered as a violation of the country’s land transportation laws, rules and regulations.
The LTO-CAR official pointed out that there is no reason why motorcycle or motor vehicle owners have not yet registered their vehicles with the agency when notices extending the validity period of the registration of the same had been well published thereby giving a chance for them to do so without being penalized as the LTO understands the impact of the pandemic to the living condition of the people.
Director Almora stipulated that the colorum and unregistered vehicles that were apprehended were impounded until such time that the owners will be able to pay the corresponding fine for their violations that were uncovered by the alert personnel.
Under existing LTO regulations, owners of colorum vehicles are mandated to pay a fine of P200,000 for vans, P120,000 for sedan and P50,000 for motorcycles while owners of unregistered motorcycles or motor vehicles are required to pay a uniform fine of P12,000 before the release of the impounded vehicles.
On the other hand, persons who had been apprehended for driving without license or those that are in possession of student permits or those driving vehicles with the wrong restriction code on n their licenses are obliged to pay a P3,000 fine aside from the suspension of their issued student permits or driver’s licenses for one year that will commence upon the payment of the prescribed fine.
According to him, the LTO-CAR is no longer authorized to lower the fines of those apprehended violators as the imposition of the same is already systems-based with the LTMS, thus, violators are mandated to pay their prescribed fines before the release of their vehicles or licenses.
Director Almora issued a stern warning against owners of colorum and unregistered vehicles and those unlicensed drivers that the LTO will go after them through the various operations being conducted around the region so that they will be able to correct their deficiencies.
While the said data in less than 2 months is alarming, he stipulated that the LTO personnel will not stop to conduct surprise operations on the road to apprehend erring individuals who refuse to abide by the implementation of land transportation laws for the overall safety of the motoring public.
