Senate Grace Poe expressed support for Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Vince Dizon's order to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to suspend the implementation of cashless toll collection on major expressways.

"The new DOTr secretary is heading in the right direction when he suspended the roll out of the full cashless payment on expressways," Poe said in a statement on Saturday, Feb. 22.

"The no-cash scheme is ideal, but it cannot be imposed until operators can guarantee that all defects in the system are fixed, such as malfunctioning booms, unreadable stickers and broken RFIDs," she added.

Poe said that there should also be an option for motorists to pay in cash during unforeseen circumstances.

She added that with the remaining issues regarding the electronic toll collection and operation unaddressed, the no-cash system might just unduly punish motorists.

In a radio interview on DWIZ, Poe noted that there are numerous fines despite the problems being encountered with the toll's RFID system.

"Kapag wala kang RFID meron ka agad P1,000 na multa for the first offense, tapos 2,000 for second, tapos 2,500 tuwing may offense ka, eh hindi naman lahat makakuha ng RFID ka agad-agad (If you don't have an RFID, you immediately get a fine of P1,000 for the first offense, then P2,000 for the second, and P2,500 every time you offend after that. However, not everyone can get an RFID right away)," she said.

"At isa pa, itong mga RFID program nila, minsan nga, kulang yung load na lumalabas. O kaya, pagka pupunta ka, hindi naman nababasa yung RFID mo (And another thing, with their RFID program, sometimes the balance shown is insufficient. Or when you go, your RFID isn't even being read)," she added.

She also stated that since tollways are privatized, she thinks they have enough capital to improve their systems and shouldn't skimp on RFID stickers or their RFID machines.

On the other hand, Poe said that they laud the planned efforts to sit down and discuss the matter with the expressway operators and that relevant stakeholders should be included in the dialogue to fully know the realities on the ground.