Senate adopts report calling for halt of private motor vehicle inspections

The call for the suspension of the privatized motor vehicle inspection system (MVIS) is now an official Senate recommendation.

This, as members of the Senate unanimously adopted on Monday, March 1, the report of the Senate Public Services Committee, which conducted a public hearing on the implementation of the MVIS.

Committee Report No. 184 urges the government to recall all its issuances on the delegation of the MVIS to private motor vehicle inspection centers (PMVICs), "pending investigation also when it comes to the legality of those PMVICs," Senator Grace Poe explained anew to her colleagues during their plenary session.

The panel had recommended to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to investigate the "highly anomalous transactions" on the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Transportation Office's (LTO) accreditation of PMVICs and the officials involved.

"While the fees have been lowered for now and the testing seems to have been made optional, the implementation of this program must be stopped definitively pending the resolution of issues hounding it," Poe said.

The report also sought to allow Congress to "determine the propriety and expressly allowing the privatization of the MVIS and delegating it to the private sector."

During the session, Senator Joel Villanueva also pitched that PMVIC technicians be certified by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) "to maximize, if not eliminate the error in the testing and inspection of motor vehicles", stressing that trainings under the TESDA are free.

Early February, President Duterte ordered the suspension of the MVIS. The DOTr also lowered the fees charged by PMVICs.