LTO interconnectivity project to reduce smoke belchers

The nationwide Private Emission Testing Center (PETC) interconnectivity project of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and Land Transportation Office (LTO) is expected to substantially reduce the number of smoke-belching vehicles in the road today and place the two agencies in the forefront of the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999.

An innovative expansion of the applications of the LTO IT project, the PETC interconnectivity project, which will be implemented on Jan. 2, is a welcome development in the land transport industry.

Assistant Secretary and LTO chief Reynaldo Berroya said the PETC interconnectivity project is an IT platform where accredited emission testing centers are obliged to upload emission test results online and in real-time to the main LTO database through an IT provider of their choice to assure the integrity and efficiency of the emission test results.

After having conducted an extensive authorization procedure, the DOTC-LTO has declared Eurolink, ETCIT, RDMS, and OAXIS the only accredited and authorized PETC IT providers.

The new system is expected to put a stop, once and for all, to the proliferation of fraudulent certificates of emission compliance (CECs) as these documents can now be verified immediately online.

With a three-way matching capability, the PETC information technology facility permits online authentication with the LTO IT system, which immediately locks the CEC number to the accredited testing center and to the motor vehicle, subsequently preventing the re-issuance of the CEC to another vehicle owner.

The implementation of the PETC interconnectivity project is pursuant to DOTC Department Order Nos. 2005-34 and 2005-37.

Under these department orders, Berroya said the DOTC is mandated to implement the emission standards for motor vehicles efficiently, as provided under the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999.

During its initial phase, the PETC interconnectivity project will only cover private and exempt private classified vehicles.

Public transport vehicles will also be exempted until the implementation of the second phase of the project, which includes the improvement of the DOTC-LTO motor vehicle inspection system. — With Sandy Araneta