House panel to file resolution deferring toll circular

MANILA, Philippines — The House committee on transportation is planning to file a resolution for the scrapping or at least delaying of the implementation of a circular that penalizes motorists for having insufficient balance in their RFID when using tollways.

Panel chair and Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop said in a hearing on Thursday that he is strongly opposed to Joint Memorandum Circular  (JMC) 2024-001 or the Revised Guidelines for All Vehicles Traveling on Toll Expressways.

The members of the panel backed Acop’s position as they tagged the JMC as “arbitrary” because it did not go through a public consultation or hearing.

The JMC was signed by Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, Land Transportation Office chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II and Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) executive director Alvin Carullo and would have been implemented on Aug. 31.

The implementation date has been reset to Oct. 1.

During hearing, Acop asked the TRB why the JMC was issued while the tollway system is not yet efficient.

He underscored that no survey was conducted to determine if the motorists are capable of loading P1,000 or P3,000 into their RFID.

“Imposition of the penalty has become arbitrary if such study was not conducted. Not all people have extra money to load into the RFID,” Acop said.

For his part, Carullo said the JMC was intended to reduce traffic at tollgates, which usually happens when motorists run out of load in their RFID.

At the end of the hearing, Acop ordered the committee secretary to prepare the resolution expressing the panel’s position on the JMC.