The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Monday launched new mobile units for inspecting the roadworthiness of vehicles, acting on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to improve road safety.
LTO chief Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor D. Mendoza II led the launch of the first Mobile Motor Vehicle Inspection Facility (MVIF) at the agency’s central office in Quezon City. The initiative is under the guidance of Department of Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon.
Mendoza said he took the initiative to procure four new MVIFs to ensure that all vehicles, especially those used for public transportation, are roadworthy, particularly after recent road crashes.
“One responsibility of the LTO is to inspect vehicles before they are registered to determine if they are roadworthy or not. Currently, we are somewhat lacking in that, we lack the materials and equipment to do our job well,” Mendoza said.
The MVIF can inspect both light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles, with each light-duty vehicle inspection taking 10 to 12 minutes and heavy-duty vehicle inspections taking approximately 30 minutes.
LTO also said that the entire process is automated, with test results recorded in real time directly into the system without human intervention, ensuring faster, more accurate, and tamper-proof assessments.
Equipped with the full functionalities of a fixed testing station, the MVIF offers the added advantage of mobility.
Mendoza personally checked the arrival and installation of the first MVIF at the LTO Central Office on 13 May.
The remaining three MVIFs are expected to arrive by the end of the month or early June and will be distributed to three major regions in the country.
“We have one and we have three more coming by the end of the month or early June. We will use it, repeatedly test it, and if the results are good, we will request to buy more of these to be spread out in all regions of the Philippines,” Mendoza said.
“And then we plan to replicate this in every district office if necessary. This is so we can thoroughly test vehicles, not just give them a quick look, so we can really see if a vehicle is roadworthy,” he added.