The nationwide protest against the Land Transportation Office– accredited private motor vehicle inspection centers (PMVIC) that started here has snowballed and gained grounds in other parts of the country.

Actor-turned-mayor Richard Gomez of Ormoc City said he foresaw the problem coming as early as 2019. He said there are only four PMVIC in Region 8 – Catbalogan, Tacloban, Ormoc and Maasin: “But if you count the number of vehicles in the region, there are more than a million vehicles including tricycles and motorcycles. So that means for Ormoc City, we will have (much) traffic and chaos.”

“Aside from that, it’s very expensive,” he lamented. “People complain and think it’s our program. That is the program of the DOTr and the LTO and not the city’s. “Problema talaga ang MPVIC na yan. I brought it before the League of Cities (of the Philippines) but it was not taken up because of Covid. I’m sure the other mayors involved in PMVIC are also having a problem now,” he said.

In San Fernando City, La Union, a resolution suspending the operations of the PMVIC in the city was passed unanimously by its city council during its regular session on Tuesday. The session was presided by San Fernando City Vice Mayor Alf Ortega and all the present members of the SP unanimously approved the passing of the resolution suspending the operation of the PMVIC.

The SP committee on transportation and traffic management met on Monday together with a representative from the LTO to address concerns and issues concerning the PMVIC, resulting in a proposed resolution suspending the operations of the PMVIC on the following grounds:

1. The inspection and re-inspection fees for motor vehicles set by the PMVICs add to the heavy burden already being experienced by everyone on account of the prevailing health emergency;
2. The PMVIC based in the city has violated Section 19 of the LTO Memorandum Circular No. 2018-2158, which provides that the complaints and feedback of customers should be monitored and analyzed, and the contents of the LTO’s Quality Management Procedure Manual should be observed in Handling Clients’ complaints related to the implementation of the motor vehicle inspection system (MVIS); and
3. The General Welfare clause of Republic Act No. 7160 (Local Government Code), states that the concerned officials and personnel of the City Government need time to check and observe the facilities’ operations and personnel of PMVIC to ensure that they are able and ready to efficiently deliver the service that owners of private vehicles deserve and pay for.

The preceding grounds served as basis for the unanimous decision of the legislative body to approve the said resolution. 

In Oriental Mindoro, Gov. Humerilito A. Dolor who is also the vice president for Luzon South, League of Provinces of the Philippines, wrote a letter to Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante of the LTO complaining of the exodus of private motor vehicles who jampacked the Calapan City LTO just to register their vehicles. He said some travelled more than 100 kilometers just to go to the agency to register their vehicles.

This, he wrote, despite the presence of LTO extension offices in the towns of Pamalayan and Roxas. “The exodus of private motor vehicle owners to LTO Calapan City has resulted to the drastic increase of the number of people and reduced social distancing in is vicinity,” he complained. He pointed out that for the entire province, there is only one accredited PMVIC.

He said “the mandatory implementation of the PMVIC is improperly timed.” He added that, “Oriental Mindoro is still under serious threat from Covid-19.” The governor accused the LTO of increasing the risk of registrants to acquire Covid-19 by requiring all registrants to ravel to one place to register their vehicles. The governor appealed to Galvante to suspend the implementation of the PMVIC at least for the duration of the pandemic.

In October of 2020, the LTO started operations of PMVICs nationwide granted with authorization under memorandum Circular No. 2020-2217 despite the raging pandemic.