DAVAO CITRY — The Land Transportation Office will soon ban vehicles with airconditioning units that use chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs, the chemical that has been identified to deplete the earths ozone layer..
Prior to the renewal of registration, all motor vehicles that have been penalized for violating the provisions of Random Roadside Inspection (RRI) will be required to present the vehicle to any Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) regional office, Land Transportation Office (LTO) regional office and LTO Motor Vehicle Inspection Service (MVIS) for validation service.
LTO chief assistant secretary Anneli Lontoc said LTO will not renew the registration of vehicles with Mobile Air Conditioners (MACs) that contain CFCs.
An RRI will be conducted twice a month to check the vehicles, she said.
For the first offense, the operator or owner will be warned and ordered to immediately convert its MAC to a non-CFC system.
For the second offense and succeeding offenses, a fine of 10,000 peso will be imposed.
Motor vehicle owners or operators will be required to specify the MAC system and refrigerant type information in the Motor Vehicle Inspection Report (MVIR) form during registration.
All motor vehicles manufactured from January 1, 1999 should have hydroflourocarbon (HFC) 134a or R-134a system.
Any vehicle found to have converted to R-12 will not be registered unless converted back to HFC 134a.
CFCs, which are used mainly as refrigerants, solvents, and foam blowing agents, have been largely blamed for the depletion of the ozone layer, which protects humans and living organisms from the suns ultraviolet rays and radiation. (Rose Palacio/Philippine Information Agency)
