The Makati City local government announced on Wednesday, Dec. 28, that it is temporarily suspending the confiscation of driver's licenses in preparation for the proposed single ticketing system.

According to Makati City Mayor Abby Binay, the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Makati has approved City Ordinance No. 2022-A-167 which temporarily suspends the confiscation of driver's licenses of traffic violators to help the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and Land Transportation Office (LTO) manage traffic violations while they formulate the guidelines for their interconnectivity program.

On Dec. 13, Metro Manila Council (MMC) Chairman and San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora announced that the council’s plan to introduce a standardized traffic citation system will be finalized next year. He said 20 common violations of motorists will be included in the new proposed system.

“For example, before, beating the red light corresponds to different fines in San Juan and Pasig. But now, with a standardized system, the same fine for a specific violation will be imposed in all cities,” Zamora said.

The single ticketing system was first proposed by Zamora during the joint session of the MMC and the Regional Development Council (RDC), which he also co-chairs, on Nov. 26 to ease the burden on motorists.

The unified ticketing system aims to impose same amount of penalties for several common traffic violations in all Metro Manila LGUs. The names of the erring drivers will be immediately listed in MMDA and LTO's digital records to make sure they cannot renew their licenses or declare them lost just to evade payment.

It also allows motorists not to surrender their driver’s license to traffic enforcers and, instead, pay their fines via payment centers all over the country.

“The biggest convenience with the new system is that they won’t need to come back to the local government where the violation occurred to pay the fine,” Zamora noted.

The mayor warned that despite the prohibition of the confiscation of licenses, violators cannot refuse to pay their dues.

“If you refuse to pay the fine, the amount that you would need to pay will increase over time because you’re hiding from the law. Or if you think you don’t have to pay because you’re not renewing your license anytime soon, you would need to pay a big amount by the time you need to renew your license in the future,” Zamora explained

In an MMC meeting held on Saturday, Dec. 10, Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Jay Art Tugade said the LTO has already laid down the technical requirements for the MMDA and LGUs to issue traffic violation tickets to tag and record traffic violations.

“Once the single ticketing system is finalized, the LTO will strictly implement its demerit point system to be able to properly monitor driver’s license records. License should only be issued to deserving and qualified drivers,” Tugade said.