LTO revokes licenses of 98 drivers who tested positive for illegal drugs

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) said Monday that it revoked the driver’s license of nearly 100 motorists who were found positive for using illegal drugs. 

In a press conference, LTO chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II said that after a confirmatory test, 98 drivers in total were positive in a drug test. 

“Because of that, we already revoked their licenses. Na-revoke na po ‘yan [those were revoked] with perpetual disqualification,” Mendoza said. 

The LTO chief noted that most of those who tested positive were drivers of provincial buses, with 55 cases out of the 98 coming from Zamboanga Peninsula alone. 

Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon thanked the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for conducting the initiative over the Holy Week. 

“Sila nakahuli eh. Isipin mo, 100, madami ‘yun ah. And anyone of those 100 could have resulted in an accident like Solid North. Kasi under the influence eh,” Dizon said. 

(PDEA was the one who arrested them. This was a large number. Any one of them could have resulted in an accident like Solid North because they’re under the influence of illegal drugs.) 

Last month, the LTO said it suspended 671 driver's licenses for getting involved in road crashes and testing positive for illegal drugs.

Dizon on Monday also announced that the government will now require all drivers of public utility vehicles (PUV) to undergo mandatory drug testing, following a series of recent road accidents that killed at least a dozen individuals. 

This, as 10 persons, including four children, were killed in a multiple-vehicle collision at the Tarlac City Toll Plaza on the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway last Thursday.

Two other individuals were also killed just on Sunday when an SUV rammed into the departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1.—LDF, GMA Integrated News