TACLOBAN CITY – The Land Transportation Office here in Eastern Visayas remains as one of the most profitable among the agency’s regional offices as it was able to surpass last year its 2004 collection.
LTO Regional Director Raul Aguilos, appearing on the weekly media forum “Express It At The Park” held at the Leyte Park resort on Saturday, said that the LTO-8 is among the top three moneymakers among the agency’s regional offices, citing increased collections and strict enforcement as reasons for the good performance.
According to Aguilos, LTO-8 was able to collect last year P166 million out of its registration, licensing and fines collections. Last year, the LTO-8 had collected P157 million.
“The LTO-8 ha always been known as one of the three best performing regions,” the LTO-8 chief said.
He added that the Land Transportation Office as a whole ranks number four among the revenue generating agencies of the government, with around P11 billion contribution to the government’s coffer last year.
Aguilos said that with their good track record in terms of collection generation, he is optimistic that they could surpass their 2005 collection this year. He said that for this year, he expects around three to four percent increase of revenue compared to last year’s.
The agency’s sources of income came from their issuances of licenses and registrations as well as fines and penalties.
The region has registered 130,00 motor vehicles with about 80 percent are in the city.
Aguilos said that whatever income they could generate are turned over to the national treasury, which help finance all the government's projects for the benefit of the people. He particularly cited the motor vehicle users tax charge that they collect which he said is used for the improvement and maintenance of the public roads.
The LTO regional chief also maintains that with their strict enforcement, they were able to generate an income. He, however, did not say as to how much they have earned last year out of the fine and penalties imposed by the agency on erring drivers and owners of vehicles in the region.
“We apprehend not only for the sake of generating revenue but it is also part of our education...that the people have this obligation to observe,” Aguilos said.
He also said the LTO-8 is not only after helping the cash-trapped government raise much needed revenue bu at the same time improve its performance by implementing what he described as “innovative” programs.
Aguilos said that it is only the LTO-Eastern Visayas that has implemented programs like bus-painting contest and “Bantay Tambutso”. The latter was part of the agency’s implementation of the “Clean Air Act,” which aims to preserve environment through clean air.
As this developed, Aguilos said that vehicles manufactured from 1999 and below would no longer be issued any registration but their office unless free of refrigerants that are harmful to the environment.
Vehicles manufactured from 2000 and up, meantime, are deemed to be free from refrigerants.
