When the Land Transportation Office (LTO) rolled out the new guidelines for driver’s license applications, there was one goal in mind: To battle fixers, provide better driver education, and ultimately, improve the system.
Under this new system, driver’s-license applicants needed to undergo a certain number of hours for both theoretical and practical driving courses, and these were to be conducted only by LTO-accredited schools. It seems, however, that corruption has still found its way to some of these supposed LTO-accredited institutions.
In a recent statement, the agency has announced that it has suspended 12 driving schools in Metro Manila over “alleged irregularities in the issuance of Practical Driving Course (PDC) Certificates of Completion.” These schools reportedly gave out certificates to students who didn’t exactly complete or even undergo the mandatory eight-hour PDCs. This is in violation of LTO Memorandum Circular No. VDM-2023-2460.
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The LTO has also issued a show cause order (SCO) to these driving schools. Apart from the fact that they’ve been placed under preventive suspension of up to 30 days, they must submit to the LTO written explanations and supporting documents within five days of receipt of the SCO. The instructors from each respective shool have also been implicated for their involvement.
It’s quite unfortunate to read news like this, but good on the LTO for spotting these ‘irregularities.’ You can check out the agency’s official statement below.
