Under Republic Act No. 8749 (“An Act Providing for Air Pollution Control Policy”), an annual smoke emission test is required for the renewal of registration of every motor vehicle. But judging by the number of vehicles belching dark clouds of smokes as they ply the streets of Metro Manila, that Land Transportation Office (LTO) requirement has become a big joke!
We have nothing against public utility vehicles, but the fact is, most of the health threatening emissions on the streets are coming from jeepneys and buses. I recently had my three-year-old car checked for pollution and renewal of registration. When I got back on the road, jeepneys and buses in front of me were emitting black smoke like it was nobody’s business! How they ever passed the annual emission test was no longer as puzzling: Emission test centers are in cahoots with LTO syndicates that have nothing else in mind but to enrich themselves from the enormous fees being collected from vehicle owners.
Drug testing used to be required for the renewal of driver’s licenses. The legislative intent was to promote public safety against bangag (high on drugs) drivers! Alas, that law served no purpose at all except to sustain the money-making racket run by syndicates of LTO officials and employees and drug testing centers. The law was scrapped for that reason.
Why do the LTO/emission test syndicates remain untouchable? The proof of the government’s sincerity in controlling air pollution lies no longer in such bogus emission test centers but in honest-to-goodness efforts at apprehending and really impounding smoke-belchers.
—ROGELIO S. CANDELARIO,
rodscan888@gmail.com