The Clean Air Movement of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) has rejected proposals by some sectors to suspend vehicle emission testing until December 31, 2020, due to the influx of applicants for registration renewal at the different Land Transportation Office (LTO) offices as a result of the long lockdown period.
“Lalo lang magkaka-problema dahil maiipon lang ang mga magpapa-rehistro,” says Larry Pitpit, president of CAMPI, an organization of more than 1,000 vehicle emission testing centers.
Pitpit was among the resource speakers during the joint hearing initiated by the House Committee on Economic Affairs and the House Committee on Transportation with regard to the effect of the prevailing pandemic on the country’s transportation sector.
Instead of suspending the vehicle emission testing, Pitpit laid down his recommendations:
- Shorten the time interval for smoke testing from the existing 10 minutes for gasoline-fed vehicles down to five minutes, and from 15 minutes for diesel-powered vehicles down to 10 minutes.
- Reopen the emission testing centers that were ordered closed down due to allegations of violations and abuses. These facilities comprise more than half of CAMPI’s 1,000 testing centers. Pitpit suggests that until their cases are finally resolved, they should be allowed to operate to ease the congestion at LTO branches. “Sana pagbigyan muna sila habang dinidinig ang kaso nila para dumami ang mga emission testing center at maipatupad ng maayos ang social distancing,” he told the legislators.
- Pitpit also advised the government not to allow private entities to take over the Motor Vehicle Inspection Centers which are due to open within the year. “Bakit kailangang pa bang isa-pribado ito? Isang malaking source of revenue ito para sa gobyerno,” he stressed.
- CAMPI is set to require applicants for vehicle registration renewal to register online first before proceeding to any of their testing centers. Walk-in clients will not be entertained, he said. And they are set to implement this soon.
Do you think CAMPI’s recommendations hold water?
NOTE: This story originally appeared on TopBikes.ph. Minor edits have been made.
