LTO to enforce stricter screening of would-be drivers

MANILA, Philippines – The Land Transpiration Office (LTO) said yesterday it will prioritize the strict screening of driver’s license applicants to ensure that only qualified and competent drivers are given the license to drive a vehicle.

“The first priority for LTO is to produce quality drivers,” newly installed Assistant Secretary Virgie Torres told reporters at a broadcasters news forum in Quezon City. She said her office, under the administration of President Aquino, wants to produce “quality drivers” to avoid accidents on streets.

She said the LTO will now subject an applicant to actual driving tests, aside from the regular written test.

Torres said some influential people were able to get a driver’s license without a proper actual driving test, resulting in accidents on the streets.

“Some people use their driver’s license only as identification cards,” she said.

The new LTO chief said she would also renew the campaign against fixers within the LTO compound and offices in the country.

She said she had adopted the strategy before when she was a district LTO officer in Tarlac wherein she even deployed policemen to arrest fixers pestering people going to the LTO.

She said she was informed that fixers loiter inside the LTO central office in Diliman and offer fake documents such as driver’s license, car registration and plate numbers to applicants.

Torres, the first LTO chief who rose from the rank, said as a former LTO enforcer she knows the modus operandi of various groups within the agency.

Although she is a shooting buddy of President Aquino and a marksman, she does not carry a gun, as she believes that prayers would protect her.