Senator Ralph Recto on Wednesday said that the Land Transportation Office should scrap altogether its policy to require drivers applying for renewal of license to first secure clearances from the police and National Bureau of Investigation.
Recto explained that the 2.1 million drivers who renew and apply for a professional license annually would have to cough up P3 billion in fees and foregone income if the new policy was not scrapped permanently.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya Jr. on Tuesday suspended the LTO policy “until such study and coordination would be done with the police and the NBI for a more efficient coordination regarding this and they will come up with guidelines.”
Abaya made the decision after lawmakers and a group of drivers questioned the new LTO order.
Recto proposed that the NBI and the PNP should draw up a list of wanted criminals and furnish a copy of the list to the LTO. “The solution can be achieved through file sharing. Why should public information be the subject of commerce?” he stressed.
Recto estimated that the number of professional drivers who will apply for new or have their licenses renewed next year will reach 2,180,576.
The cost of an NBI clearance is P115, and a local police clearance, P170.
But before the police issue a clearance, an applicant is required to present a barangay clearance, which costs P50.
However, a barangay clearance will only be issued if the applicant has a Community Tax Certificate, the average cost of each is P20, Recto said.
The PNP also requires two ID photos of the applicant, which adds P60 to the cost.
“If you add all of this, it will come up to P415. You multiply this with the number of professional drivers, you get almost P1 billion—just on fees alone,” Recto said.
Applying for clearances from three offices—Barangay Council, NBI, and PNP —will entail two days at least, Recto said.
“Because one will absent from work to do this, then that’s two days’ worth of salary gone. That’s at least P1,000 down the drain per applicant, or P2 billion in lost income for the affected drivers,” Recto said.
Recto said 2,018,976 professional drivers applied for new or had their licenses renewed in 2013, their number growing 2.6 percent annually since 2010.
Recto seconded the proposal of Senate President Franklin Drilon for the DoTC to clarify what derogatory information on the required clearances will lead to the rejection of the application and if such will impinge on the privilege of an individual to operate a motor vehicle.
“If you’re an activist and you have a pending case for illegal assembly, I think this shouldn’t be made a basis for the rejection of your application to drive,” he said.