DAVAO CITY – Transport group Transmission Piston staged a rally in front of the Land Transportation Office XI Monday morning saying the new policy for drivers to get clearances from the National Bureau of Investigation and Police before getting driver’s license is only “additional burden” for them.
Charito Junares, Transmission-Piston chairman for Southern Mindanao said that because of the delay in the processing of the clearances, “a driver’s income is diminished.”
“Before you can get a police clearance you need to have a barangay clearance and pay P20-30 pesos, but if you haven’t paid your garbage fee which is P20 a month, your dues will really get bigger. We estimate that a driver will need a week to comply with the new requirements before we can renew our licenses,” he said.
He said if a name of a driver will be “hit”, when applying for an NBI clearance, “it will take him 45 days to clear his name.”
“How are we going to feed our families then?” said Junares.
The new policy was set under the revised rules of Administrative Order AVT 2015-029 implemented by LTO last November 9.
In previous reports, LTO XI assistant regional director Macario Gonzaga said the order was issued last September and was published for a month by LTO. He said the new requirements will ensure that the drivers have no criminal records.
Meanwhile, Junares said that the new policy of the agency is just “a money-making scheme.”
“We believe this is just a money-making scheme of LTO. We were not even consulted when they implemented this,” he said.
Juranes said “some jeepney driver earns P300-400 per day, but pays P400-500 to rent for his unit.”
“That’s why we need to work for 12 hours to earn enough for our family,” he said.
Juranes said an NBI clearance and police clearance costs more than P100 pesos each.
Junares said they are calling on all drivers in Davao City to unite against the new policy. (davaotoday.com)
