More on the LTO

Atty. Jerome G. Neri
The Scrutineer

I COMPLETELY support the plate number regulation that the Land Transportation Office (LTO) announced, as I mentioned in last week’s column. It is very clear: any accessory on the plate number is not allowed, therefore, enforcing the said regulation is clear and easy.

However, it has come to my attention that the LTO has also some very vague regulations, which in my opinion is illegal and unconstitutional. Moreover, I have seen videos making the rounds in the Internet showing law enforcers abusing their powers.

There is a regulation that allows the LTO to apprehend any vehicle with unauthorized modification. This regulation does not define what unauthorized and authorized modifications are. A regulation like this is the foundation of corruption and abuse of power.

There is this particular video that shows a law enforcement officer apprehending a motorcycle rider. He was accused of having an unauthorized muffler modification. It was too loud, the enforcer said. When asked how loud his motorcycle was, he said his motorcycle’s noise is less than 60 decibels, which should be legal. The problem is the law enforcement officer had no decibel meter to prove his claim. He just told the motorist to go to the LTO where his motorcycle will be impounded and that is where he has to show that his muffler is compliant.

It is the law enforcers who have to show the motorist that his motorcycle is too loud. They should be armed with a decibel meter and measure it at the correct distance and the correct RPMs. The intensity of the noise, the distance and the RPMs must be defined by the regulation, and as far as I know, it is not defined. Clearly what happened was a violation of due process and the constitutional principle of non-delegation of powers.

MODIFIED VEHICLES. Meanwhile, a group of car clubs in Manila protested against the unauthorized modification clause, and on TV, a high-ranking LTO officer was asked what is meant by “unauthorized modifications.” His answer was any modification that would compromise public safety.

That answer was the biggest load of crap I have ever heard from the LTO. Every day, thousands and thousands of modified vehicles plying our roads pose a danger to all motorists and the general public. So why isn’t any of them being impounded by the LTO?

There is a theory that the LTO officers are in the payroll of those who modified these vehicles or those who operate it. I am talking about the jeepneys. Just drive along any street in Cebu and you will see a zillion Suzuki Super Carry multicabs that have been modified into jeepneys with more than 15 passengers on board plus a conductor hanging at the back.

These multicabs were designed by the Suzuki engineers to have a maximum load capacity of 575kgs in its pick up form. It is then modified by cutting the chassis, lengthening it and adding a much heavier jeepney cab. To keep it from sagging, beefier leaf springs are added, and that’s it.

The result is that each multicab jeepney plying the Cebu streets at rush hour are over loaded with passengers weighing way beyond the 575kg load capacity and pose as a danger to the passengers and everything around it.

The vehicle is probably carrying more than three times its maximum load capacity even if the brakes, chassis and all other components have been designed by the Suzuki engineers to have a maximum load of only 575kg.

Our law mandates that every common carrier must exercise extraordinary diligence in transporting the public from one place to another. What is happening now is the common carriers we have on the road were built and are operated with extraordinary negligence, the complete opposite of what the law mandates.

These modified vehicles pass the main offices of the LTO on a daily basis, yet not one gets apprehended and impounded. But when an LTO enforcer sees that the plate number of a private car does not have the up-to-date registration sticker on it, the car is pulled over. The reason why the car has no up-to-date sticker is because the LTO did not provide any. Right after the pull-over, it is fishing time for the LTO officers: they then look for your early warning device even if the reason for your being pulled over does not give them the legal authority to check whether or not you have an early warning device in your car.

It is astonishing that unroadworthy public transportation vehicles that have caused accidents and deaths seem to be invisible to the LTO enforcers while they are clamping down on innocent private motorists. Perhaps the private motorists need to pay some dues.