RESEARCH STATUSEvery figure on this site is at research status. No reviewer has signed one off, and the national schedule was transcribed by eye from page scans.

Paying a fine

Four clocks start when you are flagged down, and they run at different speeds from different moments. Missing the settlement one does not make the fine bigger — it suspends the licence, which is a different and often worse thing.

What starts when

Four periods, one starting gun

All four are counted from the day of apprehension. None of them is counted from the day anything arrives in the post.

The temporary permit runs for 72 hoursYour licence is taken and a temporary operator’s permit authorises you to drive for that period only.
5 days to contest, in writingEvery apprehension is deemed admitted unless a written contest is filed inside that window. The office then has 5 days to resolve a contested case.
15 days to settleThe window to pay the penalty, counted from the same day.
30 days of suspension if you miss itAutomatic, and counted from the day of apprehension — which is why the end date can already be behind you by the time you learn about it.

SourceSCAN · READ BY EYEJoint Administrative Order No. 2014-01 (DOTC + LTO + LTFRB, 3 June 2014), item §V · page 23 of the scanIn force 3 June 2014. That is the date stamped on the order’s own face. The order does not state when it commenced: it says only that it takes effect fifteen days after publication in two newspapers and a filing with the national administrative register, and neither of those records is in this site’s corpus. So the real start date is later than the date above by an unknown margin. The order has never been amended.Source last read 7 August 2026 — a read date, not a sign-off.

Work out your dates

Choose the day you were apprehended

Every date below is computed from the instrument's own periods, on the server, before this page reached you.

Your apprehension

Example datenot today — change it to the date on your ticket

Date you were apprehended

Shown as 1 January 2026

Every one of the four periods below is counted from this day, not from the day you received anything.

Did you settle inside the window?

The amount does not go up. This instrument states no surcharge, no penalty interest and no escalating fee for late settlement — the consequence is the suspension and nothing else. If you have been told a late figure, ask which instrument states it.

The four clocks

Licence suspended

Temporary permit expires: 4 January 2026
Last day to contest in writing: 6 January 2026
Last day to settle: 16 January 2026
Licence suspended until: 31 January 2026

Missing the settlement window triggers an automatic licence suspension, and the suspension is counted from the day you were apprehended — not from the day you missed. That is why the end date can already be in the past by the time anyone tells you about it.

The finding

Late does not mean more

There is no surcharge for settling late

Failing to settle inside the window has exactly one consequence in this instrument: an automatic licence suspension, counted from the day of apprehension. There is no larger fine, no penalty interest and no escalating fee anywhere in that clause. Several other countries ladder the amount upward on delay; this one does not, and this site will not add one.

Joint Administrative Order No. 2014-01 (DOTC + LTO + LTFRB, 3 June 2014), item §V · page 23 of the scan

UNRESOLVED

The settlement window may no longer be counted in calendar days

A 2026 circular is reported to change how the settlement window is counted — from calendar days to working days, excluding weekends, declared holidays and days when government work is suspended. This site could not fetch that circular: its address resolves and then returns the same security challenge as every other government origin in this corpus. The window shown here is the one the 2014 schedule states, and it is probably no longer how the period is reckoned. That is neither silently applied nor silently ignored.

The calculator above uses the period the schedule states. If the reported change is in force, the real deadline is later than the one shown — which is the safer direction to be wrong in, and is still a reason to check with the office that issued the ticket rather than to rely on this page.

Two general rules

Things that apply to every item on this site

Not instead of

A fine does not end criminal exposure

The schedule states expressly that its fines and penalties are without prejudice to any criminal action that may be brought under existing laws. Paying is not a settlement of everything arising from the same conduct.

Scope

“Motor vehicle” includes motorcycles and tricycles

Unless the schedule says otherwise, every reference to a motor vehicle in it reaches motorcycles and tricycles too. That is why most of the tables on this site apply to a motorcycle without saying so on every row.

Where a penalty cannot be carried out immediately

In all cases where the penalty includes the confiscation, suspension or revocation of a driver's license or student permit as well as the suspension or revocation of the registration of a motor vehicle or impounding the motor vehicle, and the same cannot be immediately implemented, the driver's license, student permit or motor vehicle as the case may be shall be put on alarm until the proper penalty may be implemented.

SourceSCAN · READ BY EYEJoint Administrative Order No. 2014-01 (DOTC + LTO + LTFRB, 3 June 2014), item §V · page 23 of the scanIn force 3 June 2014. That is the date stamped on the order’s own face. The order does not state when it commenced: it says only that it takes effect fifteen days after publication in two newspapers and a filing with the national administrative register, and neither of those records is in this site’s corpus. So the real start date is later than the date above by an unknown margin. The order has never been amended.Source last read 7 August 2026 — a read date, not a sign-off.

Franchise cases only

Two extra timers, and they run in hours

Where the violation is a franchise item, the resolution is transmitted onward and a show-cause order follows on stated hourly deadlines.

Within 24 hours of the fine being paid, or of a contested case being resolved, the result is transmitted to the franchising board.

Within 36 hours of receiving it, a show-cause order is issued against the operator.