MANILA – The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is set to release this month an order capping the driving school fees amid sentiments from a lawmaker that the process in getting a driver's license is "anti-poor," an official said on Saturday.

Assistant Secretary Jose Arturo “Jay Art” Tugade, citing internal reports, said driving school fees have reached up to P20,000 and they plan to lower this in half by ordering a cap before the end of the month.

"A few days ago nag-meeting kami noong committee na finorm natin at mayroon na silang na-prepare na reasonable standard rate fees that I plan to rollout dito sa mga driving schools," Tugade said in a media forum in Quezon City.

"Iyong fee po na iyon, doon sa mga nanunood naman na mga driving schools, we don’t intend to fix the fee pero we will impose a ceiling on the fees that the driving schools will be able to charge," he added.

Tugade's statement came after Pampanga 4th District Rep. Anna York Bondoc alleged one would need around P9,000 to P15,000 to get a non-professional driver's license.

She described this as "anti-poor" and "very expensive."

But Tugade said their fees are not anti-poor, vowing that this month would not end without the order from their office adjusting fees for such driver's license process.

"Pero hindi po matatapos iyong month of March, magkakaroon na po iyan ng order from our office. At before the end of March, malaki po ang ginhawa at tulong na sana ang maibigay po ng LTO doon sa mga student driver applicants natin," he said.

At present, the official said they charge P100 for the application fee of student permits, then another P150 for the student permit fee itself.

If a student driver wants to convert their permits to a non-professional license, they will be charged another P100 for the process. They would need to pay another P585 for their non-professional license.

"Iyong cost po na iyon ay napupunta po sa LTO pero it’s really to also shoulder the cost of the plastic cards, pati na rin po iyong administrative expense na kasama doon sa pag-issue noong driver’s license," he said.

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