“Anti-Poor”: New DOTr Chief’s 1st order is suspension of expressway cashless toll collections

The implementation of cashless toll collections for all expressways has just been ordered to a full stop. Newly minted Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Vivencio “Vince” Dizon has just announced that his first order as the agency chief was to stop the implementation of the rather controversial policy of the Toll Regulatory Board along with its toll operators and concessionaires. Here’s what reports have on this issue thus far.

Cashless Toll Collections will NOT commence on March 15, 2025, as originally planned

For context, Sec. Dizon was sworn into his new duties today by the country’s president. In a bit of a surprising move, Dizon had also used this time to immediately address the one of, if not the hottest topics to have involved the DOTr in the past few days, and that is the impending implementation of cashless toll collections along all expressways nationwide. In a press conference of the DOTr with the Presidential Communications Office, the new agency Chief had a lot to say about the issue.

In his words, the Secretary believes that the cashless toll collection system is “anti-poor”.

“I’ve already told TRB to suspend that cashless (toll collection) where there will be no cash lane anymore,” Dizon said.

“Having a cashless system is not pro-poor, it is anti-poor. Why? Tayo siguro dito, kaya mag-load sa EasyTrip tsaka sa Autosweep ng PHP 2,000, PHP 3,000, PHP 5,000, PHP 10,000. Pero paano yung mga kababayan natin na sagad-sagad ang budget, ‘di ba? Hindi sila makakaload [Maybe we can afford a PHP 2,000, PHP 3,000, PHP 5,000, PHP 10,000 EasyTrip and AutoSweep reload. What about our fellow countrymen who have over-extended their budgets already?],” he added.

Citing the “chaos” that ensued during the numerous dry runs of the new collection system, Dizon said that he would want to work with MPTC and San Miguel, the two large(st) operators of tollways in the metropolis, to “check” the system, see how to make it more efficient, and to see if all barriers and tags are actually working. Until these have all been addressed positively, the DOTr Chief said that the cashless toll collection will “only do more harm than good” and that “we are not going cashless for the foreseeable future”.

In one hand, we do know that despite 97% of all expressway-frequenting already having RFID tags installed, they still have to be loaded. That is what Dizon is pointing out to be “anti-poor”. In the other hand, technological advancements such as cashless toll collection transactions are, given their fundamental purpose, supposed to be instrumental to progress in-general. But that’s where the vicious cycle goes round: That we have the poor, those who can afford to keep loading and using RFIDs and expressways, and the malfunctioning tags and barriers that plague our expressway entrances and exits.

Round and round it goes, doesn’t it?

A lot of talk will again surround this issue, as well as the new Chief of the DOTr. That said, how and where will you weigh in on this new debacle? Seriously, we’d love to know.