COA: Inadequate driving schools given go signal
THE 2022 Compliance Audit on Land Transportation Office revealed that only seven for every 10 driving schools failed to comply with minimum documentary requirements or were lacking in facilities and equipment.
The report was contained in the Commission on Audit (COA) report of the Department of Transportation to which the LTO is an attached agency.
“The 189 or 66.32 percent of 285 driving school applicants were issued with provisional permits/certificates of accreditation despite submission of incomplete/invalid documentary requirements and/or deficiencies in the required facilities and equipment,” the audit team said.
These conditions were observed in DOTr-Cordillera Administrative Region, LTO-National Capital Region, and LTO Regional Offices 3 (Central Luzon), 5 (Bicol), 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula), and 12 (Soccsksargen).
“The audit team concluded that, because of the significance of the matter noted in audit, the accreditation of driving school applicants was not in compliance with Sections 9, 10, and 14 of LTO Memorandum Circular No. 2021-2284,” the COA said.
Sections 9 and 10 enumerated the required documents for accreditation and the list of facilities and equipment that a driving school must put up before being allowed to provide lectures on theoretical and practical driving courses.
Section 11 and 14, on the other hand, covered requirements for the operation of heavy vehicles.
The audit team said the compliance audit covered applications from driving schools received between January to June 2022.
LTO regional accreditation committees (RACs) received and evaluated the documents submitted and conducted onsite inspection to determine the existence and specifications of facilities and equipment.
However, it was the Assistant Secretary and the Regional Director concerned who approved accreditations and provisional permits for driving schools. Verifications made by the audit team uncovered anomalies and inaccuracies in the assessments made by the LTO RACs.
