Gov’t speeds up opening of private motor vehicle inspection centers

The national government, through the Department of Transportation and the Land Transportation Office (DOTr-LTO), is fast-tracking the opening of private motor vehicle inspection centers (PMVICs).

Such establishments are privately-owned automated vehicle inspection facilities, which will provide the vehicle inspection need of owners as part of their vehicle registration requirements.

PMVICs will be checking vehicle emission and roadworthiness of a vehicle prior to registration.

The agency’s PMVIC Authorization Committee (AC) has been conducting ocular inspections of PMVICs to check their compliance with the standards and requirements for activation. The same committee, who will formulate the guidelines and procedures on PMVIC, will evaluate an applicant's conformity with the requirements for authority to operate as such.

Transportation Assistant Secretary for Procurement and Project Implementation and head of the Authorization Committee Giovanni Lopez said that 113 of the 138 identified sites were already awarded, while 25 sites have yet to be awarded.

While waiting for the results of the inspection, the committee is eyeing some 32 sites nationwide to be operational come last week of August.

“The AC is targeting to activate the 32 PMVIC sites hopefully by the last week of August. We have been conducting ocular inspections, despite travel limitations due to COVID-19, to determine the readiness of these sites. One of the requirements we are looking at is connectivity with the LTO Information Technology (IT) system. Tinitingnan po namin kung compatible at naka-konekta na sila sa LTO IT System para maging automated,” Lopez said.

This August, PMVICs at the following locations will be operational:

• (Region 1) San Fernando City, La Union; Vigan, Ilocos Sur; Laoag City, Ilocos Norte; within Lingayen and Alaminos, Pangasinan;
• (Region 3) Angeles City, Pampanga;
• (Region 4A) Dasmariñas, Cavite; San Pedro, Laguna;
• (Region 4B) Calapan, Oriental Mindoro;
• (National Capital Region) Pasig City; Valenzuela City;
• (Region 5) Pamplona, Camarines Sur; Pili, Camarines Sur; Sorsogon City; and Daet, Camarines Norte.
• (Region 6) Roxas City, Capiz;
• (Region 7) Mandaue City, Cebu (2 sites); Danao City, Cebu; Naga City, Cebu; Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental (2 sites); Tagbilaran City, Bohol; Tubigon, Bohol; Bais City, Negros Oriental;
• (Region 8) Maasin City, Southern Leyte; and Ormoc City, Leyte;
• (Region 9) Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay;
• (Region 10) Iligan City, Lanao del Norte; Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental;
• (Region 11) Mati City, Davao Oriental; Panabo City, Davao del Norte;
• (Region 12) General Santos City; Cotabato.

After the August opening, some 29 PMVICs are set to open in September 2020, 14 by October 2020, 3 in November 2020, 5 in December 2020, finally, 25 by January next year.

“The operationalization of the remaining awarded sites (30 PMVICs) will be for further determination," Lopez added.

For his part, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade cited the advantages of an automated inspection system to determine the vehicle’s roadworthiness.

"Yung automated inspection, titignang mabuti ang roadworthiness ng sasakyan nang sa ganun, malaman kung ligtas itong bumaybay sa mga kalsada. Hindi na po manu-mano ang inspection. Machine po ang gagawa kaya naman accurate ang resulta. At dahil limited ang human intervention, mawawala 'yung sinasabi nating opportunities for corruption,” Tugade explained.

Further, LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante said that the Agency is likewise fast-tracking the preparation of the LTO’s IT system to be able to accommodate and process the results from the PMVICs.

“We have been testing the LTO IT system and its connectivity with that of the inspection centers to identify issues, and iron out glitches. This is to ensure that once operational, the transaction process will be smooth and efficient,” Galvante noted.

Cagayan de Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez recently filed House Resolution 1007, seeking to suspend emission testing as part of vehicle registration requirements until the end of this year, citing COVID-19-related reasons.

Photos from Ruben D. Manahan IV

Also read:

Everything you need to know about vehicle emission testing in the Philippines

Original OR/CR No Longer Necessary for Emissions Testing

LTO caps off allowed emission tests by PETCs at 120 per day