Two driving schools were suspended for 30 days after they were found to be facilitating the issuance of Theoretical Driving Course (TDC) and Practical Driving Course (PDC) certificates which the Land Transportation Office (LTO) described as equivalent to fixers’ operations.
The PDC and TDC are the two major requirements in the application for driver’s license and LTO Chief Vigor D. Mendoza said the two suspended driving schools were issuing them despite non-appearance and insufficient number of required hours for the courses for their respective students.
“This is part of our aggressive campaign against fixers. We cannot allow these modus operandi to happen because what is at stake are the safety of road users,” said Mendoza.
The LTO-Intelligence and Investigation Division immediately deployed poseur clients based on the instruction of Mendoza who received reports of the rampant issuance of PDCs and TDCs and even medical certificates despite non-compliance from the clients.
In his report, LTO-IID chief Renante Militante said their poseur client in a driving school in San Sebastian, Tarlac was able to secure a TDC despite non-appearance through the help of one of the instructors.
Meanwhile, he said the poseur client at the Lucena City-based driving school was also able to secure a PDC despite non-completion of the required hours and despite non-appearance in the mandated road safety seminar.
“We already issued a Show Cause Order to these two driving schools to demand their explanation why they should not be punished for violating the provisions of the accreditation given to them,” said Assec Mendoza.
“Both the driving schools were also suspended for 30 days pending the result of the ongoing investigation,” he added.
Mendoza said the LTO action should serve as a stern warning against all driving schools and accredited medical clinics.
"We will not hesitate to cancel their operation because what is at stake here are the life and limb of all road users,” said Mendoza.
“More operations and investigation will be conducted against erring driving schools and medical clinics based on the information that we have,” he added.