EWD fiasco: Who’s to blame?

If you ask businessmen in Metro Manila, it’s the Land Transportation Office (LTO) that should be blamed for the skyrocketing prices of early warning devices (EWDs) being sold to motorists.

Several owners of car accessories shops told The STAR claimed there is now a virtual monopoly by a small group of dealers accredited by the LTO to sell "standard" EWDs to motorists who will be registering their vehicles this year.

Sources said there are functional yet affordable EWDs being sold in shops in Metro Manila, particularly in Banawe, Quezon City and on Taft Avenue in Pasay.

"One can buy a perfectly functional early warning device for as low as P200 or even cheaper in Banawe," one car owner told The STAR.

A car shop owner said that the LTO’s decision to accredit only four dealers identified as Well Glow Trading, Safe Shine, A2 Market Plus Inc. and IPM Trading, has left him with several EWDs in his shop’s storage room. He said he may never get the chance to sell them since he has to have his business accredited with the LTO to do so, which he claimed was bound to be "difficult, time-consuming and expensive."

For his part, LTO chief Roberto Lastimoso said they should not be blamed for the accreditation of only four dealers since these were the only ones found to be selling EWDs that passed the LTO’s requirements.

He said the LTO screened all EWDs to be sold by dealers who applied for accreditation. They had to pass several requirements, namely height, width of the isosceles triangle, weight of 2.2 kilos, and visibility and luminosity.

All four accredited dealers, the LTO chief pointed out, were selling EWDs imported from other countries.

Lastimoso said the LTO welcomes other dealers selling EWDs to apply for accreditation, admitting that this could result to the reduction of prices. He stressed that dealers that meet the requirements can easily get accreditation .

Some motorists have been complaining that the required EWDs are being sold at nearly double the regular retail prices. They claimed they have no choice but to purchase them or else their vehicles would not be registered.

The LTO-approved EWDs are assigned serial numbers with a corresponding sticker that must be displayed on a vehicle’s windshield. Without those stickers, motorists could be apprehended.

One car owner, Chief Inquest Prosecutor Nelson Salva of the Manila Prosecutor’s Office, said that what made it difficult to accept the expensive EWDs was the fact that those who have functional and serviceable EWDs have to buy the expensive ones from the said four dealers.

Salva said that he still had an EWD he bought two years ago for only P200. It was still serviceable and functional so why shell out money for the expensive ones, he asked.