Tulfo inspects LTO office amid corruption woes
SENATOR Raffy Tulfo made an ocular visit at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Diliman Quezon City Friday to confirm complaints received by his RTIA (Raffy Tulfo In Action) Action Center about “rampant corruption” in the agency that amasses billions of pesos from collections yearly.
Tulfo, accompanied by his Senate staff, likewise visited the LTO head office to gather research materials that he could use in crafting legislation that would fix the agency’s “rotten system” and hold accountable all officials behind reported corruption in the agency.
“Bilyones na ang nawala at patuloy na nawawala sa kaban ng bayan kada taon mula sa LTO collections dahil sa korupsyon at bulok na sistema. Panahon na para tugisin ang mga nagkasala at ituwid ang mga maling patakaran at ilagay sa ayos ang pamamalakad sa LTO,” he said.
Tulfo particularly mentioned the P500 fee for the vision test of new and renewal of driver’s license applicants. He said that billions collected from this are mostly only going to “fly-by-night” outsourced vision test centers situated near the LTO office.
He said that LTO can offer said test instead so the billions collected from it can go to the public treasury and not to some “hao siao” outsourced eye exam clinics. This way, the funds can be used for meaningful projects like free cataract surgery and eyeglasses for the poor, as well as research and treatment on vision and blindness.
The senator from Isabela and Davao also noted that outsourced emission testing centers are also earning billions from car owners who are required by LTO to get a compliance certificate, which costs P500 per car.
He maintained that LTO can also be the one issuing compliance certificates, so the funds collected from this can also be used for important projects like the treatment of different kinds of cancer.
Meanwhile, Tulfo wanted to stop the “unjust” requirement for car owners to get a Compulsory Third Party Liability (CTPL) amounting to more than P1,000 per car wanting to register, even though their vehicles already have comprehensive insurance coverage.
Tulfo is eyeing to file said bill addressing all these issues once the Senate regular session resumes.
