'Kapag puno na ang salop': LTO vows to turn NAIA into 'discipline zone' amid overcharging incidents
At A Glance
- LTO chief, Assistant Secretary Vigor D. Mendoza II said the deployment of its enforcers will be as frequent as possible and all of them will be tasked to conduct checking of documents and roadworthiness inspections of vehicles.
photo: LTO
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) will make its presence felt in all Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminals as part of a regular crackdown against erring drivers of taxi and other public utility vehicles (PUVs) amid persistent reports of overcharging of passengers.
LTO chief, Assistant Secretary Vigor D. Mendoza II said the deployment of its enforcers will be as frequent as possible and all of them will be tasked to conduct checking of documents and roadworthiness inspections of vehicles.
“We are making NAIA and its surroundings a discipline zone and the deployment of our personnel there will be the start to ensure compliance of the regulations of these drivers,” said Mendoza.
On Wednesday, July 2, a team of LTO personnel was deployed to the NAIA Terminal 3 and inspected 41 PUVs.
Two of the PUVs—a taxi and a motorcycle taxi— were impounded for having expired registration.
“We are also informing our kababayan that we are making our presence regularly at the NAIA and our instruction to our team that will be deployed there is to make the people know their location for quick response against erring PUV drivers.
The LTO visibility in all NAIA terminals was triggered by two incidents of viral video and post about overcharging of passengers at the NAIA.
In one case, a taxi driver charged a passenger with P1,300 for a short trip from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 while another taxi charged a passenger with P5,000.
A motorcycle taxi rider was also accused of charging a customer of P2,000 from NAIA to Cainta in Rizal.
All of them were already sanctioned by the LTO.
said they will push for additional measures against abuses by PUV drivers, one of them is the proposal to double the penalties against erring drivers.
“We will not hesitate to impound the vehicles of these erring drivers,” said Mendoza.