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MANILA, Philippines — Saying that the 15-hour mandatory theoretical driving course is a bit long, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) is now considering reducing the number of hours by half.
The LTO currently requires applicants for student driver’s permit to undergo a 15-hour theoretical driving course, 8 hours of practical driving course, and three days of the seminar.
Senator Grace, however, lamented during the Senate finance subcommittee hearing that the 15-hour requirement is too long.
“Di ba napakahaba nito? Nasa IRR (Implementing Rules and Regulations) lang naman ninyo yan di ba? Wala naman sa batas,” Poe said who was presiding over the hearing on the proposed budget of the Department of Transportation.
(Isn’t that too long? It’s just in your IRR, right? It’s not in the law.)
LTO chief Teofilo Guadiz pointed out that the requirements were the original concept of his predecessor, Edgar Galvante.
“Right now, we’ve convened again a technical working group to address this issue. We feel, your honor, that 15 hours may be a little long and we feel that three days of the seminar may be quite expensive, especially for those working people,” Guadiz told the committee.
“I’m looking into the possibility of reducing it to as much as seven hours for a theoretical,” he added.
However, Guadiz said, he believes the 8-hour requirement for the practical driving lesson should still stay.
The LTO chief said the seminar could be reduced to 7 to 8 hours only.
“We feel that about to seven to eight hours would be justified. We will just consolidate some topics; most of these are on road signs and road safety,” Guadiz said.