Think tank hails LTO-6 for rare reform success

By Gerome Dalipe

In a government agency long associated with long queues, fixers and public frustration, the Land Transportation Office in Western Visayas is suddenly being talked about for a different reason: reform that people can actually feel.

The Iloilo-based think tank Institute of Contemporary Economics singled out LTO Region 6, under the leadership of Regional Director Atty. Gaudioso “Didoy” Geduspan II, as a rare example of a regulatory office turning national directives into concrete action.

“He didn’t reinvent the LTO,” observers remarked. “He simply made it work.”

In a statement posted recently on its social media platform, ICE said LTO-6 appears to be translating national mandates “into a more coherent operating agenda.”

Under Geduspan’s leadership, ICE noted that LTO-6 intensified internal anti-corruption efforts, filing 86 criminal cases and pursuing charges against 23 individuals, including agency personnel.

The campaign underscored a key message: A regulatory office cannot effectively enforce discipline outside if it cannot enforce accountability within.

The regional office also stepped up operations against colorum vehicles across Western Visayas, targeting unregistered public utility vans blamed for endangering passengers and undermining legitimate transport operators.

Beyond enforcement, LTO-6 also pushed road safety and public service programs on a wider scale.

The office expanded its free Theoretical Driving Courses, reaching more than 40,000 participants regionwide, while redistributing over 217,000 driver’s license cards in less than a year to ease backlogs.

LTO-6’s Free Driver’s License Scholarship and Livelihood Program also reframed licensing as more than a government transaction, positioning it as a gateway to employment, mobility and responsible driving for aspiring motorists unable to afford training and licensing costs.

ICE noted that many of the initiatives were aligned with directives from LTO central leadership, including the anti-colorum drive.

What distinguished LTO-6, however, was its ability to turn those directives into a coordinated operational agenda instead of allowing them to remain routine memoranda.

The think tank stressed that real reform does not always require sweeping changes or new laws.

Sometimes, it said, reform simply means enforcing existing rules seriously, measuring results and holding institutions accountable.

Still, ICE warned that sustaining the reforms will be the bigger challenge.

Regional directors can be reassigned or replaced, and reforms anchored only on one official’s leadership may disappear once that leadership changes.

To make the gains permanent, the think tank recommended institutionalizing the reforms through published standards, measurable performance systems and long-term data-sharing protocols.

ICE added that the country has never lacked road safety campaigns or public service slogans.

What has often been missing, analysts said, are institutions willing to consistently enforce rules while holding their own personnel accountable.

The LTO is the government agency responsible for motor vehicle registration, driver licensing and road transport regulation, making its regional offices central to everyday mobility and public safety.

For his part, Geduspan said LTO-6 may not solve every transportation problem in the country.

However, he noted that in Western Visayas, the regional office is offering something rarely seen in government, proving that reform can begin when a public office starts fixing the parts of the system it actually controls.