This year will mark the re-implementation of the Motor Vehicle Inspection System or MVIS program of the Land Transportation Office. The MVIS program will require all motorized vehicles to undergo and pass a series of tests as a requirement for registration. For anyone who has seen the conditions of our vehicles, it is undeniable that this program is long overdue and is greatly expected to provide safer and more efficient transport on our roads.
The MVIS program consists of a 70-point series of roadworthiness tests, based on international standards required in most countries for decades. Unlike the previous smoke emission tests that just checked the carbon content emissions of the vehicles, the MVIS test process includes visual testing such as checking the operability of the wipers, brake lights, side mirrors, etc., as well as tests that can only be done with the proper equipment, technology and trained personnel. Among the more sensitive tests that can only be accurately rated through the use of MVIS specific equipment are the suspension of vehicles; the proper brightness of headlights; the braking system, which is the reason for most road accidents, and the combustion systems to detect harmful carbon emissions that cannot be seen by the naked eye. This presents another good feature of the program—the assurance that there is no human intervention that can alter test results. This had been the problem of the past programs, especially with smoke emission testing, as there had been verified instances of non-appearance of vehicles that underwent such tests. With the MVIS program, ratings are done by the machines and are automatically transmitted to the LTO central office, hence no room for human intervention, and very little room for corruption.
The MVIS program had its beginnings during the time of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but was never fully implemented in the next administration leaving much of what is now outdated equipment still stored in their original delivery crates. With the Duterte administration, the DOTR had planned to resuscitate the program even early on in their tenure. But the usual bureaucratic processes, including the necessary executive approvals and legislative oversights, had pushed its implementation to what is now the remaining two years of this administration.
The program is not without opposition, especially in a country where most vehicle owners do not prioritize vehicle maintenance and rely mainly on a need-to basis when it comes to the conditions of their vehicles. The cost of the MVIS test, though more expensive than the emission test rates, is not really that prohibitive at P1,600 per vehicle. It is the need to meet the standards of the test prior to registration that results in most motorists complaining about the program. In its first week of operations, MVIS operators recorded more than a 50 percent failure rating of vehicles that underwent the tests. LTO personnel and the operators had a difficult time explaining to the vehicle owners why they failed when, for example, tires that still can be inflated cannot anymore be accepted or clear combustion does not automatically equate to the required euro standards. There’s also the jeepney and tricycle sectors that fear their vehicles will most likely fail these tests citing the lack of protocol in addressing roadworthiness rating of their vehicles, which were fabricated locally. Other groups voicing their opposition from the very start of the re-implementation of the program include the soon-to-be displaced smoke emission center owners whose term will end as soon as there will be enough MVIS centers. Though some of them had migrated to being operators of MVIS centers, majority were not able to meet the needed capitalization for the MVIS facility that ranges anywhere from P20 million to P30 million.
Whatever the case maybe, the MVIS program is a good program that we need badly and had been long in coming. With more than a thousand deaths per month due to road accidents caused by faulty brakes, bright headlights, etc.—not to mention the thousands more who die per year due to respiratory illnesses—there are more benefits than consequences of implementing the MVIS, regardless of costs and whatever inconveniences and shortcomings it entails. Hopefully, the program will be carried through in the next administration and its benefits be felt by our future generations.
Thomas “Tim” Orbos was formerly with the DOTr and the MMDA. He has completed his graduate studies at the McCourt School of Public Policy of Georgetown University and is an alumnus of the MIT Sloan School of Management. He can be reached via e-mail at thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu
2 comments
MVIS should be done by LTO at no additional cost to vehicle owners.
Vehicle inspection in doha qatar costs 75 qatari riyals and no reinspection cost. Please reconsider the MVIS program’s inspection fee.