While the intentions and objectives of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) are not lost on the Filipino people, the same cannot be said of some of their corresponding actions and implementations. The Theoretical Driving Course (TDC) requirement, otherwise known as the 15-hour seminar on theoretical driving, which is needed for the mandatory submission of a driving course completion certificate, has proven to be a needless compromise of public health (given the more effective and efficient alternative of Online Theoretical Driving Course or OTDC as provided by Memorandum Circular No. 2021-2265), and most importantly, a cause for financial and undue regulatory burden for the Filipino people seeking for driver’s license application and renewals. 

Thus, we humbly petition the LTO to make TDC and OTDC requirements free of charge, and to fully enforce OTDC as an alternative mode of delivery, through the amendments of Memorandum Circular Nos. 2019-2176, 2020-2194, and 2021-2265. This is to:

(a) Resolve the “exorbitant fees and regulatory procedures of doubtful effectiveness” as a result of LTO’s neglect. [1] The TDC requirement alone costs about P1,500 pesos to as much as P2,500 pesos from a private driving school in Luzon while fees soar as high as P5,000 pesos in provinces, most notably in Cebu. [2] The lack of any sort of provision pertaining to cost compliance of the recently introduced OTDC only adds to yet another cause for burden for the transacting public.

(b) Address the still persisting, compulsory classroom set-up of many driving schools’ theoretical driving courses. This face-to-face set-up is negligent of and contradictory to the public health protocols on social distancing, public gatherings, and even the very reasoning behind the government and the IATF’s refusal to allow physical classes, despite all safety precautions presented. This “logic” which justifies face-to-face driving seminar courses as necessary, based on driving as an integral skill, is a display of double standards, when even medical courses/classes/laboratories/internships that are as skills-based and as essential as driving, shifted online in adherence to said public health protocols.

The LTO, through the proposed amendments, must grant all TDC/OTDC student-applicants (both LTO and LTO-accredited Driving School clients): 

• FREE TDC and OTDC requirement for the resolution of unreasonable costs shouldered by the people (stemming from the “privatized implementation"), [3] and in contribution to employment opportunity and social participation. 
• FREE access or use of updated Classroom/Theoretical Instruction and/or Course Syllabus comprising all necessary topics or fields of study, as mandated by Memorandum Circular No. 2019-2176’s Article 2, Section 5, Letter B, Item No. 1, as was formerly implemented by Administrative Order No. 2015-027, for the convenience of a streamlined application process. [4]
• A blended learning type, face-to-face, driver model, or the OTDC as a viable option for applicants, in the delivery of theoretical driver education, that will be compliant not only according to the mandates of Memorandum Circular No. 2021-2265 and Section 11 of R.A. No. 11032  of reducing the bureaucratic red tape and processing time, but also to the public health restrictions which help prevent the “probable risk of spread and transmission of the COVID-19 virus due to continuous operations of businesses engaging further exposure of the people to said virus.” [5]

Sign this petition and let us exercise our responsibility as citizens to demand no less than integrity, accountability, and good governance in all government transactions. 

[1] - Macon Ramos-Araneta, “Recto: LTO creating ‘lucrative downstream industry’ with new fees,” manilastandard.net, February 8,2021,https://manilastandard.net/news/national/346498/recto-lto-creating-lucrative-downstream-industry-with-new-fees.html.

[2] - Divina Nova Joy Dela Cruz, “Suspension of mandatory driving courses pushed,” The Manila Times, July 25, 2020, https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/07/25/news/top-stories/suspension-of-mandatory-driving-courses-pushed/745539.

[3] Vanne Elaine Terrazola, “Driving school diploma before driver’s license? Recto says no such requirement under law,” Manila Bulletin, February 8, 2021, https://mb.com.ph/2021/02/08/driving-school-diploma-before-drivers-license-recto-says-no-such-requirement-under-law/.

[4] - Administrative Order No. 2015-027 (Philippines), https://lto.gov.ph/images/ISSUANCES/Memo_Circular/AVT_2015_027.pdf

[5] - Memorandum Circular No. 2021-2265 (Philippines), https://lto.gov.ph/images/ISSUANCES/Memo_Circular/2021/mc-2021-2265.pdf