Operators of private motor vehicle inspection centers (PMVICs) on Tuesday belied reports that they are selling insurance policies to motorists in exchange for a favorable examination mark.
In a statement, the Vehicle Inspection Center Operators Association of the Philippines (VICOAP) said its members are not in the business of insurance.
“Members have unanimously agreed to prohibit their personnel from selling insurance, and its sale within the testing area,” the group said.
“Though we welcome and support all insurance brokers, it was never a practice or policy that an insurance must be purchased from a PMVIC prior to testing or for the vehicle to pass the inspection test,” it said.
The group made clarification after Senator Grace Poe, in a privilege speech on Monday, disclosed that there have been reports where motorists are forced to buy insurance policies from PMVIC operators in order to get a passing mark on their vehicle examination.
With this, the VICOAP said PMVICs cannot manipulate the pass or fail inspection result.
“PMVICs can only send results, not edit them,” the group noted.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade on Tuesday ordered the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to temporarily hold the implementation of a memorandum directing all regional offices to adopt the mandatory PMVICs testing within their geographic areas of responsibility (GAOR).
Poe slammed the reimplementation of mandatory PMVIC testing amid the pandemic “at the height of a more transmissible variant, where a number of PMVICs per area are once again filled with long lines without social distancing.”
Tugade ordered the LTO to maintain the previous registration process where motorists can choose between a PMVIC and a Private Emission Testing Center (PETC) for the required vehicle inspection.
Meanwhile, VICOAP also disproved reports that PMVICs charge more than P1,500 for light vehicles and P800 for motorcycles.
It said that PMVICs charge P300 for public utility jeepneys (PUJ), P500 for motorcycles, and P600 for other light vehicles.
The group added that since March 2, PMVICs do not charge re-test fees.
VICOAP also defended the GAOR policy of the LTO as this aims to ensure that there will be enough PMVICs to service all areas of the country, and to prevent over saturation of PMVICs such as what happened with the PETC program.
“In areas where there are no PMVICs, customers can visit Emissions Testing Centers and have their inspections done in the LTO. More PMVIC’s are opening,” the group said.—AOL, GMA News
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