Following its recent entry in the motor vehicle insurance industry, the government is now poised to take over the business of inspecting the quality of emission of private motor vehicles.

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) said it will soon be offering emission tests even to private motor vehicles at its motor vehicle inspection centers.

Currently, the LTO only conducts the emission test on public utility vehicles while Private Emission Testing Centers (PETCs) are the ones performing such tests on private motor vehicles.

The LTO is the government agency that enlists motor vehicles in the country, issues driving licenses, and enforces traffic rules.

According to the LTO’s 2008 records, of the 5,906,165 registered motor vehicles in the country last year, 4,919,999 are privately owned, 73,936 are owned by the government, 900,362 are for hire, and 5,048 are for diplomats.

With the recent approval of the LTO administrative order ACL 2009-018, the “Revised administrative order on the new motor vehicle inspection system,” the days of PETCs are now numbered, according to Joel Donato, chief of the LTO’s North Motor Vehicle Inspection System (MVIS) center at the LTO Main office compound on East Avenue, Quezon City.

The new LTO order prescribes the rules and regulations in the inspection of all motor vehicles as a requirement in the motor vehicle registration. Among other objectives, the order seeks "to provide systematic, reliable, and effective testing of motor vehicles through computerization and automation for compliance to safety and emission requirements."

Donato said the establishment of PETCs by virtue of Republic Act No. 8749, the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999, “is an interim program and a stop-gap measure prior to the full operation of the expanded MVIS project catch-up plan.”

PETCs commissioned by the government through accreditation by the Department of Trade and Industry and authorization by the Department of Transportation and Communication/LTO are authorized to conduct regulatory tests independent of the government testing function being carried out by several LTO MVIS centers.

“They (PETCs) were created as a stop-gap measure only because the government then had not enough facility to conduct emission tests on private vehicles. But now, we have the funding from the Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge to establish the inspection centers,” Donato said.

Asked if this would lead to the eventual phase out of PETCs, Donato said, “Yes.”

According to Donato, there are two MVIS centers in Metro Manila, the North MVIS, and the South MVIS in Pasay City. There are also MVIS centers in Regions 3, 4, and Cebu while more centers are being built in other areas of the country.

Donato said LTO officials would be meeting Monday to decide on the date of the implementation of the new inspection scheme.
He said the new procedure would be tested first in the LTO Diliman (Quezon City) District Office.

Donato said the car registrants in the district office would be mandated to be inspected only at the NMVIS.

The new LTO ruling also increases its inspection cost — more than 200 percent increase from its current inspection rates for motor vehicles — but Donato said the rates are still cheap since they already include emission testing.

“If you have your vehicle tested by a PETC, you’ll have to pay P400. The MVIS test include emission test, speedometer test, headlight test, sound level and undercarriage test, above-carriage test, tests that ensure the roadworthiness of the motor vehicle,” he said in defending the increase of MVIS inspection rates.