MY LTO STORY: I was applying for my driver's license back then. My cousin, who facilitated the papers, told me to go to the LTO around 5pm. I wondered nganong after office hours pa man? So, I went there around 4pm but an LTO staff asked me to wait outside among other customers. When it was time to close office, the guard asked me to go in. Wala nay mga tao sa opisina, wala nay mga tao sa gawas. Sirado na ang mga bintana og portahan. I was lost, actually. What I know is that all transactions are to be made outside the office through a glass window.
Now, why I am inside the office at 5pm? I didn't know what I am supposed to do there. Then one staff asked in a surprised manner, "Mo-exam pa ka ma'am?" I was bewildered myself so I said yes, which gave the staff a more surprised look. So, I took the exam without even going through a lecture or a test drive. I was not given any review notes. The exam was even very foreign to me with all those traffic signs, which are non-existent in our province and even in the Philippines. There were questions about road protocols and lifesaving procedures. Needless to say, I failed (I was 10 points behind the passing score!) the exam and I did not get a license. I was told to come back months after.
So, when I went home, I browsed the net for "traffic rules" over the LTO website, there was none. I stormed to National Bookstore for books or leaflets, there was none. I was disheartened.
But I was disheartened even more when my cousin, who processed my license, told me that he got his own license for 750 pesos and he did not take any examination at all. If he did, he would have failed, too. hehehe!
Our drivers- professional drivers at that, didn't even pass through driving tests. Most of them cannot even read traffic signs. If they took the written examination, they would have failed, too. Most of our drivers never went through anything. They just paid.
When a huzzle and buzzle took place about my experience, the LTO just gave me my license and didn't ask me to take another exam... an exam, which no one has bothered to take, perhaps, except me!
Even the drug tests and eye examination were questionable, which are taken by agencies outside the LTO. For my drug test, I was asked to take a pee. After one or two minutes, they gave me a negative for drugs result. Then, I was asked to go into a room. As I was standing by the doorway, a woman looked up from where she was sitting and said, "Wa kay eyeglass, no? 20-20 lang ni ako ibutang ani" then scribbled something on a paper. And that was it for the precious 300 pesos I paid them.
No one dared to really question this system. Senseless. Way hinungdan. I'm trapped. Will anybody fight for me?
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