Peke ang License? LTO Suspends 12 Metro Manila Driving Schools for Fake Certificates

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is cracking down hard on driving schools that have been cutting corners — and it's not pretty. Twelve accredited driving schools in Metro Manila have been slapped with show cause orders and placed under 30-day preventive suspension for allegedly issuing bogus certificates of completion.

According to the LTO, these schools have been handing out practical driving course (PDC) certificates to students who never actually completed — or in some cases, never even started — the mandatory eight hours of hands-on driving instruction. That means there could be drivers on the road right now who literally never learned how to drive properly. Scary thought, 'di ba?

The violations fall under LTO Memorandum Circular No. VDM-2023-2460, which covers fraud, misrepresentation, irregular use of accreditation, and non-compliance with regulations. The driving instructors themselves are also implicated and face potential sanctions alongside their schools.

All 12 schools and their instructors have been given five calendar days to submit written explanations and supporting documents. If they fail to respond, it will be considered a waiver of their right to be heard, and the LTO's Central Accreditation Committee will proceed to resolve the cases based on available evidence.

During the 30-day suspension, these schools are completely barred from conducting any driver education activities and locked out of the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS). The crackdown is a welcome move for road safety advocates who have long complained about the quality of driver training in the country — a problem that contributes to the Philippines' notoriously chaotic road conditions.

Source: GMA News