BY sheer dint of ineptitude and arrogance, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has become the poster child for the kind of atrocious performance that passes as public service in this administration.
After punishing vehicle owners with months-long delays in the release of license plates, drivers licenses and even simple renewal stickers, the agency announced last week that it will strictly implement a “no registration, no travel” policy beginning this month.
Vehicles without license plates will be stopped, and the driver must present a certificate of registration and an official receipt. If these are presented, the driver will be fined P5,000 for failing to attach the license plates.
On the other hand, if the driver does not have the OR or CR, he must present a sales invoice showing that his car was bought at most seven days before his arrest. If no such document can be produced, the owner will be fined P10,000 and the driver P1,000 for reckless driving.
The stern warning and the threat of stiff fines are outrageous in that they suggest that long-suffering vehicle owners are somehow delinquent and to blame, when in fact it has been the LTO that has been remiss in its duties for years.
Following the lead of his boss in the presidential palace, Transport Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, who is ultimately responsible for the LTO, sought to pass off the blame for his failure on a scapegoat, in this case “errant” car dealers whom he said deliberately misinformed customers about the status of their license plate applications.
“The problem is that the delinquent dealers tell their customers that the LTO does not have new plates, when in fact, they’re the ones who aren’t fulfilling their services, Abaya said. “They let months pass despite knowing fully well that the plates are ready—and they even mislead their customers about it.”
Secretary Abaya, who has allowed the public transport system to go to pot since he took over the Department of Transportation and Communication in 2012, and who has been charged with graft over a questionable P1 billion contract, would now have us believe him when he says that the LTO, which has given car owners and drivers nothing but grief, is suddenly on the ball, that there has been a stockpile of license plates for every car owner who wants one all this time, if only these lazy dealers would bother to pick them up.
A week ago, he even threatened to suspend or revoke their accreditation.
The trouble with this lemon of a story is that it falls far from the tree of logic and common sense.
After all, what possible motivation could any car dealership possibly have for antagonizing its customers? Would it not be in their best interest to keep car buyers happy? What possible advantage would these dealers gain by putting their customers at risk?
That the LTO has not moved against these “delinquent” dealers suggests either that it is again remiss in its duty to protect car buyers, or that the accusation was merely a dodge to deflect criticism of his agency’s continued ineptitude.
Clearly, Secretary Abaya has a credibility problem. Now this is par for the course for government officials these days, but when he goes on to threaten to punish honest car buyers for failing to attach license plates that his own agency has not delivered in a timely manner, he has gone much too far.
This is exactly the kind of official idiocy and arrogance that will be the death of this administration, and when we stand over its grave next year after the elections, we will all heave a sigh of relief, thank Secretary Abaya and his ilk for being stupid and insensitive enough to alienate the voters, and say good riddance to bad rubbish.