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The Department of Transportation (DOTr) halt the implementation of cashless toll collection that is set to take effect next month.

Transportation Secretary Vivencio Dizon said he had instructed the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to suspend the program to allow a further review.

Under the cashless/contactless transactions program, all vehicles passing through expressways must be equipped with RFID to settle their toll fees digitally or else the drivers will be penalized.

Violators will be fined P1,000 for the first offense, P2,000 for the second, and P2,500 for each subsequent offense.

 In implementing this scheme, the DOTr, TRB and Land Transportation Office directed tollway operators and RFID service providers to establish more RFID installation sites and provide several modes of loading the motorists’ account balances.

According to regulators, the installation of RFID stickers is free and no maintaining balance is required.

Dizon said that many Filipino motorists were already struggling to top up their accounts regularly or sufficiently because of tight budgets.

“My personal opinion—and I’ve communicated this already with the TRB—is that having a cashless system is not propoor. It is antipoor,” he said.

He added: “I understand the need to regulate, I really do. But the need to regulate should not result in making the lives of people difficult. Peoples’ lives should be getting better, not harder. This cashless payment will be a burden for now so I don’t believe in it.”

In a letter to President Marcos, the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) said we do not understand why we continue to use the [RFID] when this is an old technology which has been replaced in favor of more efficient systems in countries including our neighbors Singapore and Hong Kong.

“Our operators should instead consider the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera, for example, which is already available from providers in the Philippines,” it said.

Using ANPR technology may later on be linked to electronic payments, such as credit or debit cards or similar systems, it said. “By moving to this platform, the burden of advancing deposits that is being done under the RFID will also be addressed,” Philexport said.

Philexport also suggested the issuance of cards that are transferable to other vehicles and valid in all tollways regardless of the operator.

This, it said, would facilitate easier compliance and lessen the amount that may have to be deposited.

“The issue of compatibility of systems should be the responsibility of the operators and should not be passed on to motorists,” the exporters group said.

Philexport also urged the government to maintain the dedicated cash lanes in all tollways as assistance to ordinary motorists.