THE Land Transportation Office (LTO) launched on Thursday two major locally developed technological innovations which crack down on car smuggling and carjacking as well as strengthen environmental protection.

LTO chief Alberto Suansing said these two innovations are the LTO-Bureau of Customs Interconnectivity Program and the radio-frequency identification (RFID) system.

Both innovations were launched to highlight the  LTO’s  96th anniversary.

Suansing said these two programs were developed by the LTO in partnership with Stradcom Corp., its private-sector technology partner in the LTO Information Technology (LTO-IT) project.

The LTO-BOC interconnectivity program, dubbed Certificate of Payment Authentication and Verification System (Cpavs), was developed to fight luxury-car smuggling. Under this system, imported vehicles will only be registered by the LTO after the Cpavs validates that the owner has paid the necessary taxes and duties to the Customs bureau. Suansing said the LTO and Customs agreed that the best way to crack down on car smugglers is through the motor vehicles registration process.

Suansing noted that the Cpavs enforces the LTO’s mandate under Republic Act 4136, known as the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, which provides that imported cars will only be registered after presentation of proof of payment of taxes and customs duties.

“Under the Cpavs,” Suansing explained, “the Customs bureau will transmit the Certificate of Payment [CP] on a real-time basis. Each CP will be tagged with a unique identification number to ensure there will be no duplication of engine and chassis numbers.”

Scanned copies of the CPs will be stored for physical verification. Suansing also said the LTO cannot make changes in the CP details as it will have view-only access. Each CP will be accordingly associated to a specific port of entry.

The LTO also introduced the Rfid, a system where each registered vehicle will be issued a unique electronic signature. This electronic signature contains information that validates the vehicle’s authenticity which can be used in enforcing compliance with safety and environmental regulations, as well as in law enforcement.

The LTO said the Rfid is an enhancement on the present motor-vehicle registration system of the LTO.

One immediate benefit of the Rfid sticker is in emissions testing and road-worthiness inspection centers, where the vehicle must be physically present or else the transaction will not proceed. These test centers will be equipped with an Rfid reader, which will be used to check the vehicle’s details. Once inspections are completed, the data is uploaded into the LTO Information System, which can be accessed when the car is registered.

Suansing admits one source of corruption is the “nonappearance” of vehicles at testing centers. With this new system, Suansing said corruption will be stopped and LTO revenues will increase. Another benefit is in law enforcement as police and traffic enforcers can be equipped with hand-held scanners to verify the vehicles registration.    

The system will also help crack down on carjacking as the police can immediately check who is the real owner of a vehicle stopped on suspicion that it is stolen. The Rfid is scheduled to be implemented toward the middle of this year.

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THE Land Transportation Office (LTO) launched on Thursday two major locally developed technological innovations which crack down on car smuggling and carjacking as well as strengthen environmental protection.