The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Friday took exception to “the apparent zeal and relentless ardor” of Senator Grace Poe to “unduly shut down” Private Motor Vehicle Inspection Centers (PMVICs).
In a statement, the department said PMVICs were “a program of the Executive branch, meant to elevate the standards of road worthiness of vehicles, and uphold road safety.”
It noted that on Friday, Senator Poe alleged that the DOTr and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) are yet to officially declare that vehicle inspection at PMVICs is no longer mandatory, and that its inspection fees were reduced to the same level as Private Emission Testing Centers (PETCs), since she said no official documented order had been issued.
“The DOTr was asked to comment on this specific assertion by the Senator, and our prompt response was to provide the media and the public with a copy of an official LTO Memorandum dated 11 February 2021, which specifically directs LTO regional directors and personnel concerned to ensure the strict implementation of the President’s order to make vehicle inspection from PMVICs non-mandatory, as well as the directive of the DOTr on lowered PMVIC inspection fees,” the agency said.
Though not required by law, DOTr said the memorandum has been submitted for publication at the Office of the National Administrative Register of the University of the Philippines Law Center.
“This response clearly debunked the false assertion of Senator Poe,” it said.
“Now, since the senator is resorting to obfuscation and muddling the issue of the PMVICs with unfounded and unfair accusations of corruption and incompetence, allow us to set the record straight,” the statement added.
Senator Poe’s initial statement, it said, refers to the alleged absence of a formal order or issuance. The DOTr promptly belied the claim by showing the actual memorandum.
“With this, the good senator then tried to re-frame the issue by dismissing the memo as an internal documentation, and not an official presentation and pronouncement for public consumption,” it said.
DOTr reminded Poe that when the matter of lowered inspection fees and reversing the mandatory requirement of the PMVIC was announced by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on February 11, the DOTr and LTO fully complemented the same pronouncement by formally holding a virtual press conference on the same day.
The agency held this together with representatives from the health and environment sectors and officers of the Vehicle Inspection Center Owners Association of the Philippines (VICOAP), it said.
“The said policy shift, as ordered, was widely announced and circulated by both mainstream and social media, with official information provided by the official spokesperson of the President, the DOTr and the LTO, and confirmed by the VICOAP,” DOTr said.
“In fact, even Senator Bong Go made a public pronouncement lauding the efforts of the DOTr to reach out to PMVIC owners and push for a pandemic special rate to ensure that no unnecessary burden is imposed on Filipinos,” it added.
“Hence, despite expanding the requirements for vehicle inspection and improving mechanisms to ensure road worthiness of vehicles, the cost to be shouldered by motorists will remain unchanged. The new inspection system will not be mandatory, and reinspection fees will likewise be waived,” DOTr said.
Roque also clarified on February 12 that what is not mandatory is the inspection through a PMVIC, not the vehicle inspection itself, the agency noted.