P50 interconnectivity fee for emission test suspended

Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Reynaldo Berroya ordered all the agency’s provincial and regional offices yesterday to suspend the collection of the P50 interconnectivity fee from private motorists who have their vehicles tested at private emission testing centers (PETCs).

Berroya ordered the suspension after the system established by the LTO’s information technology (IT) provider, Stradcom Corp., reportedly slowed down due to the sudden increase in the number of private vehicles being registered this month.

Emission testing is a prerequisite for the registration of a vehicle, according to the Clear Air Act.

Stradcom set up an integrated information technology system interconnecting PETCs and LTO offices nationwide, enabling the online and real-time processing of transactions such as the issuance of driver’s licenses and registration of motor vehicles.

The LTO-IT-PETC interconnectivity, which started last Jan. 2, seeks to eliminate alleged anomalies in the private emission testing of vehicles, such as transactions done by fixers.

Berroya has ordered all LTO offices to continue the registration of private vehicles using "soft validation," uploading the data of vehicles they have already registered instead of real-time registration.

He urged the public to be patient as Stradcom vowed to upgrade its system soon. Stradcom officials said they will not collect the P50 interconnectivity fee as long as they have not upgraded the system.

Public utility vehicles are exempted from paying this interconnectivity fee, Berroya said.