The Land Transportation Office (LTO) reiterates its position to suspend temporarily the No Contact Apprehension Policy (NCAP) currently being implemented in some cities in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Clear-cut guidelines should first be drafted, finalized and then tested in order for the NCAP to effectively work for the benefit of the motoring public, according to LTO Chief Atty. Teofilo Guadiz III.
He called on the mayors of the five cities currently implementing NCAP, namely, the City of Manila, Quezon City, Parañaque City, Valenzuela City and Muntinlupa City, to sit down with the Agency and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and together, come up with a uniform set of guidelines that will be favorable to the cities and agencies implementing the policy, and the motoring public.
Once well-defined guidelines are drafted, this can perhaps be emulated by other cities who may want to implement their own NCAP.
One of the most hotly contested aspects of the NCAP involves the payment of fines where the registered owners of public and private vehicles are the ones who are asked to pay for the penalties. This creates a lot of confusion instead of clarity since there are still no clear-cut rules.
Four transport groups filed a petition with the Supreme Court, asking the High Tribunal to suspend the implementation of the NCAP, citing the policy as unconstitutional and thus, is invalid. The LTO is also a respondent in the petition filed by the transport groups.
Guadiz said, the petition reflects the position of the LTO calling for a thorough review of the policy and should not be implemented in haste without plugging all possible loopholes that may be the subject of longer contestations, complications and other perplexities that will create more confusion instead convenience.
“There are still a lot of issues that need to be resolved, particularly those raised by the public, which are totally valid. The petition filed by the four transport groups is a clear indication that further review of the policy is necessitated. The presence of a uniform, well thought of, and transparent guidelines is very important for the NCAP to work because it will be the public who will suffer if it doesn’t,” according to the LTO Chief.
He adds that digitalizing the traffic management system is important but all guidelines revolving around its implementation should be first be cemented and perfected, otherwise it will only be a waste of taxpayers’ money, the LTO Chief added.
