The Vehicle Inspection Center Owners Association of the Philippines (VICOAP) has asked the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to tighten the ‘change venue’ policy for vehicle registrations following the alleged proliferation of the ‘no show’ scheme at some private emission testing centers (PETCs). VICOAP is made up of private motor vehicle inspection center (PMVIC) owners.
The group claims it has been receiving reports that unscrupulous fixers at PETCs are luring vehicle owners to avail of their services—which don’t require the appearance of the owner and the vehicle itself—instead of going personally to a PMVIC facility for actual vehicle testing prior to LTO registration. Under this scheme, a vehicle owner changes the venue for the LTO registration of his unit to one near a PETC where the fixer operates.
“We urgently seek your good office to swiftly act to halt this practice that makes a mockery of the vehicle registration regulatory framework our country, which your agency is mandated to uphold,” wrote VICOAP chairman Inigo Larrazabal in a letter to LTO chief Edgar Galvante dated January 28, 2021.
To curb this illegal practice, VICOAP came up with these suggestions for the LTO:
- Require the submission of a photo showing the vehicle being registered by an inspection officer at the LTO branch. This will ensure that the person appearing in the photo did indeed avail of the ‘change venue’ transaction himself.
- Increase the fee for the ‘change venue’ option to address the big gap between the testing fee being charged by PMVICs and PETCs. The current fee for a ‘change venue’ transaction for light vehicles is pegged at P100.
“It is humbly submitted that this will serve as a deterrent for those circumventing the PMVIC requirement,” Larrazabal stressed.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopBikes.ph. Minor edits have been made.
