‘Having a cashless system is not pro-poor,’ new DOTr Sec. says

MANILA: New Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Vivencio Bringas Dizon said in a press briefing that “having a cashless system is not pro-poor, it is anti-poor.”

Dizon — who just took his oath before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier today — noted that motorists who live from paycheck-to-paycheck might not have enough money to put into their tollway radio frequency identification accounts.

“Paano yung mga kababayan natin na sagad-sagad ang budget… paano kung sa pagod nila nakakalimutan nila mag-load? Negative yung balance nila… ibig mong sabihin pag cashless, anong gagawin nila? Kalbaryo na naman yun (What about our countrymen who have a limited budget… what if they are tired and forget to load? Their balance is negative… if there are only cashless toll booths, what will they do? That is another mess), he stated.

The new DOTr boss — who previously served as President of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority — also explained that he would like to work with Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation and San Miguel Corporation Tollways in looking at the system.

He noted that he would like to study the structure of the cashless toll collecting process to determine if the country is ready to make the transition.

To recall, Carmudi Philippines reported recently that the Toll Regulatory Board gave toll operators the go signal to reimplement cashless toll collection.

According to the said dispatch, motorists without a valid Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) device or RFID sticker will be handed a Temporary Operator’s Permit or a Show Cause Order for violating the “No Valid ETC Device, No Entry” Policy.

In response, toll road concessionaires backed the decision noting that “the policy plays a key role in easing traffic at toll plazas, improving safety and convenience for motorists, and optimizing expressway operations.”

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