LTO to review temporary operator's permits 

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is looking to review the process and enforcement of the temporary operator’s permit (TOP) or the ticket issued to motorists who had their driver’s license confiscated due to a traffic violation, according to a report by Philippine News Agency.

In a statement on Wednesday, LTO chief, Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II, said their goal is to simplify the process involving TOPs and to harmonize it with the Joint Administrative Order No. 2014-01 or the revised schedule of fines and penalties for traffic infractions.

“Asahan niyo po na isa ‘yan sa aming ire-review para sa gayon ay tama lang ho ang trato namin sa mga motorista na either nagba-violate o kung di naman ay nakakagamit ng kotse but later found out na may problema pala (Rest assured that we will review this so that we can treat motorists fairly, both traffic violators and those unaware of problems involving their vehicle),” Mendoza said.

Mendoza is set to meet with the LTO’s Law Enforcement and Traffic Adjudication System (LETAS) and the Law Enforcement Service (LES) to address issues with the system.

“Aayusin ho natin kaagad ‘yan. So the moment we implement it, we would issue the necessary changes para ora mismo po matapos na natin ‘yung problema (We will fix this immediately. The moment we implement it, we would issue the necessary changes to resolve the problem),” he said.

During the House of Representatives budget deliberation of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), 1-RIDER party-list Rep. Bonifacio Bosita raised some issues with the implementation of the TOP.

In January, the LTO launched a shift to electronic TOPs with the goal of advancing digitalization and curb corruption by having all traffic violations automatically entered into the LTO online database and doing away with manual TOPs.

Once issued, a TOP is only valid for 72 hours during which traffic violators are expected to settle their violation ticket.