LTO chief Assistant Secretary Jose Arturo “Jay Art” Tugade (PNA photo)
MANILA – The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is looking to shorten its driver’s licensure exams in a bid to simplify transactions and lessen the public’s reliance on fixers.
In a statement on Thursday, LTO chief Assistant Secretary Jose Arturo “Jay Art” Tugade said “lengthy procedures” is one of the reasons why many license applicants resort to paying for fixers — third-party unauthorized agents who process LTO transactions for a fee.
“The instruction I gave to our committee was to compress the exam. This exam reportedly takes about an hour. The agency is now studying how to shorten the exam. I believe that by reducing the exam duration, our applicants will not seek out fixers and will opt to take the exam themselves,” Tugade said.
The committee, he said, will analyze exam questions and condense the content without sacrificing their purpose to license competent drivers with emphasis on knowledge, skills, and attitude.
The shortened exams being studied are for new non-professional licenses, new conductor’s licenses, changing classification from non-professional to professional, and adding a driver’s license code.
In addition to shortening the exams, he said the committee will also look into customizing exam questions depending on the license classification or driver’s license code the applicant is applying for.
