Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres on Tuesday said that her order suspending the direct connect facility for private emission testing centers (PETC) will take effect next week.

Torres clarified that Transportation and Communications Secretary Jose de Jesus’ memorandum revoking her order will only be effective for seven working days since it was issued last August 5 but the department's directive for a thorough review of the program will continue.

She said the suspension of the direct connect facility is warranted to curb cases of “non appearance,” wherein vehicle owners can still get a passing grade for smoke emission testing without even having their vehicles tested.

Under the direct connect facility, LTO-accredited PETCs are allowed to connect directly to the agency's database and IT provider, Stradcom Corporation, for real-time uploading of photos taken during smoke emission testing.

“I believe that the direct connect facility is the root cause of non appearance for smoke emission testing. If we tolerate smoke belching vehicles to ply our roads, the smoke emission testing, as mandated by the Clean Air Act, will not serve its purpose,” she said.

This developed as a militant commuter group on Tuesday called on the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) to enforce its collection efforts against the private proponents of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT 3) before implementing a fare hike on the mass transportation system along Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA). (See story: "DOTC urged to pursue collecting obligation from MRTDC")

Elvira Medina of the National Council for Commuter Protection (NCCP) has urged DoTC Secretary Jose De Jesus to collect revenues generated by the MRT Development Corporation from the commercial components of the rail facility before setting the new fare rates for the MRT 3.

According to Medina, the DoTC should pursue collecting P1 billion worth of development rights payment from MRTDC, saying the amount “should be able to cut a fifth of the P5-billion subsidy that the government has extended to the company since 2007.”