Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano continues to be the ‘vox populi’ (voice of the people) in the controversial ‘no registration, no travel policy of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), which penalizes a motorist if he travels using a vehicle with no registration plates.

Early this month Senator Cayetano asked the LTO to temporarily suspend the policy for 30 days in order for the agency to catch up with the backlog and prevent the average motorist from bearing “the burden of government inefficiency.”

“Walang mawawala sa LTO at sa gobyerno kung sa loob ng 30 araw ‘wag muna ipatupad ang 'No plate, no travel' or No Registration No Travel policy (LTO and the government have nothing to lose if it does not implement the 'No plate, no travel' policy for 30 days),” said Cayetano.

“Threatening vehicle owners with stiff penalties for a problem the LTO created is grossly unfair and must stop. At the same time, a moratorium will allow the LTO enough time to set its house in order by fully servicing the backlog of vehicle owners and car dealers,” added Cayetano in a statement.

The LTO though, has remained steadfast in its commitment to implement the rule of law and has reiterated that it will not suspend the policy.

Last week, LTO Spokesperson Jason Salvador posted this statement on his Twitter account (@JasonSalvador4), ‘No suspension on the implementation of the "NO REGISTRATION NO TRAVEL POLICY". LTO steadfast in implementing the law.’

This may have been the reason for the stern reaction from Senator Cayetano, threatening to block the 2016 budget allocation of the LTO should they not suspend the policy.

The senator has also filed Senate Resolution 1288 in order to investigate the issue further.

“We remind the LTO that it collected more than P17.16 billion pesos in 2013, and P11 billion collected from Road User’s Tax. The failure of DOTC and LTO to serve their mandated tasks is inexcusable and unacceptable, yet they have the temerity to invoke the law penalizing victims of their inefficiency," Cayetano added.

“Government agencies’ tact of causing inconvenience and punishing the public for their inefficiency and incompetence must stop,” Cayetano concluded.