BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
A resolution appealing to President Rodrigo Duterte, through Department of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, to suspend anew the pilot implementation of the private motor vehicle inspection system in Bacolod City, was sponsored by Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. Wednesday.
Gamboa, former chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Transportation, said that the DOTr Memorandum Circular No. MC-SC-2021-02 directs the Land Transportation Office to establish the Geographical Areas of Responsibility for every PMVIC to determine compliance with the emission and inspection requirements for the renewal of registration of light vehicles and motorcycles.
He said that on August 9, the Land Transportation Office in Manila decided to impose the memorandum only in the areas of Silay, Talisay, Bago, Murcia, and Bacolod City, and out of 11 identified emission testing centers in the city, only the PMVIC at the Reclamation area has been authorized to accommodate all the vehicles.
Gamboa said the PMVIC cannot accommodate all vehicles from the five areas and this will cause delays in the renewal of registration, and LTO can impose penalties on late registration. The implementation is untimely due to the ongoing pandemic, he added.
Earlier, the United Negros Drivers Operators Center sought the help of the SP and Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia to appeal for the suspension of the PMVIC implementation.
Teddy Macainan, chairperson of the Alliance of Concerned Transport in Occidental Negros, said they have similar sentiments with that of other transportation groups in the areas affected by the PMVIC implementation.
Macainan said that if DOTr would like to implement the memorandum, it should be done nationwide and not in selected areas of Negros Occidental only, because it is obviously unfair, adding that this will affect the drivers and insurance agents.
Under the memorandum, PMVICs are the only authorized centers to offer insurance to the vehicles they had inspected.
Action is contemplating to legally question the implementation of the memorandum, through the regional office of the LTO, but the problem is, the members and officers cannot meet because of the Covid restrictions, Macainan said.
He said that Action, composed of taxi, shuttle services, V-hire and luxury vehicle operators are coordinating with Undoc and other transport group for a synchronized move against the PMVIC.*
