By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz | Philippine News Agency
Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez on Friday ordered the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to change the lead time for settling traffic violations to 15 days and suspend the confiscation of driver’s licenses of erring motorists.
In a statement, Lopez said the order is in line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to streamline and clarify procedures in apprehending erring motorists.
In a memorandum dated Jan. 9, Lopez ordered the LTO to suspend the confiscation of apprehended drivers and to “revisit all pertinent issuances to ensure consistency across all existing policies.”
“The new memorandum circular shall take effect immediately,” he said.
Instead of immediate license confiscation, apprehended motorists will have their licenses placed under alert and will automatically be suspended or revoked if the driver fails to settle their violation.
On the other hand, the new timeline for settling traffic violations—from 15 calendar days to 15 working days—aims to “afford both the government and the public sufficient time to resolve cases.”
“Ibig sabihin po nito, hindi kasama ‘yung mga holiday at long weekend sa bilang ng araw kapag magse-settle ng violation ‘yung driver,” he said.
The change comes after vlogger James Deakin called out the LTO in a media interview for alleged inflated charges against his son and for difficulties in settling traffic tickets during the holiday season due to the 15-calendar day deadline.
In a post on social media on Friday, Deakin said Lopez called him to apologize and laid out the new changes for traffic apprehensions.
In a separate post on the same day, he uploaded a video of a show-cause order (SCO) delivered to his home by an LTO personnel.
On Wednesday, the LTO said Deakin’s son was apprehended for “reckless driving” due to an illegal lane change on the Skyway and for driving an unregistered vehicle.
