LTO: Government earns nearly P1 B in 1st half of 2024 from erring motorists
There’s money—millions of pesos— from misdemeanors of motorists on the road and their failure to meet their obligations, especially on vehicle registration.
For the past six months alone, the national government earned a total of P986.5 million from the payment of fines and penalties paid by motorists, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) disclosed on Tuesday, July 9.
But LTO chief, Assistant Secretary Vigor D. Mendoza attributed the huge sum of money collected from fines and penalties to what he described as hard work and dedication of their personnel on the ground.
“The almost P1 billion collection from fines and penalties alone is a result of the hard work of our law enforcers and other personnel on the ground. We cannot achieve this without their dedication and commitment to ensure road safety,” said Mendoza.
Based on the LTO data, a total of 330,073 motorists were apprehended nationwide from January 1 to June 30 this year for various offenses.
Not all of those apprehended already settled the fines and penalties but based on the LTO data, a total of P986.5 million were already collected from January 1 to June 30 this year.
“We expect the figure to increase as more violators settle their fines and penalties. We are asking them to settle it on time to prevent them from shelling out more money for another set of penalties should they fail to settle them on time,” said Mendoza.
“As much as possible, we in the LTO do not want motorists to pay any fine or penalty. But in the interest of the rule of law and road safety, we have to do this if this is what it takes to compel them to be disciplined, and behave while on the road,” he added.
The LTO’s revenue collection target for 2024 is P33 billion.
Mendoza said he is confident that it is achievable since from January 1 to May 30 this year, the LTO has already recorded P17.9 billion which is P34% higher for the same period in 2023.
Aside from fines and penalties, other revenue sources of the LTO include motor vehicle user charges and driver’s license transactions.