Motorists' group slams LTO over road accidents

The Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP) aired a call yesterday for the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to reform its procedures to screen the people acquiring driver’s licenses.

AAP president Augusto Lagman said the series of road accidents involving drivers of public utility vehicles betray deficiencies in the LTO’s process of giving driver’s licenses to individuals.

“They should be stricter in issuing licenses. Most of the people who have a driver’s license did not go through a driving school. And then, they are not tested properly,” he said.

Lagman said the LTO has been known to administer haphazard practical driving tests due to a lack of vehicles and examiners.

LTO chief Alberto Suansing said they are already looking into the matter.

Meanwhile, transport group Pasang Masda said a fake transport organization is allegedly behind the proliferation of “colorum” vehicles in Metro Manila and other parts of the country.

Pasang Masda national president Roberto Martin said the group, which has no legal personality, has been insisting on participating in deliberations on fare reduction at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

 “The leader of the group is actually a fixer at the LTFRB and LTO,” he said.

Martin said the group is pressuring the LTRFB to issue a certificate of public conveyance to a non-existent route in Metro Manila.

It is collecting money from vehicle owners, who are promised a franchise on non-existing routes, he added. – Rainier Allan Ronda, Perseus Echeminada