President Rodrigo Duterte favors suspending the implementation of the child car seat law.

"I've already talked with President Duterte last night. He also do not want to implement this. He said 'not this time'. It is not the right time to implement this law," Go said in a public briefing on Saturday.

"The Filipino people are already suffering let us not give them additional burden," he added.

Go said he also talked to the chiefs of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to suspend the implementation of the law.

The law was passed on February 22, 2019 and the IRR (implementing rules and regulations) was released on December 23, 2019. ''It was supposed to be implemented last year but it did not happen because of the COVID-19," Go said.

"The situation now is different, I already talked with (DOTr) Secretary (Arthur) Tugade and (LTO chief) Asec. (Edgar) Galvante to temporarily suspend the implementation of this law," Go said.

"First of all, children were not allowed to go out based on the IATF protocol. Why will we implement this law if children are not allowed to go out of their houses? So let us first prioritize the information campaign about the content of this law," he added.

The Child Safety in Motor Vehicles Act was to be implemented on Feb. 2 .

But social media outcry erupted after an LTO official said in a radio interview that parents who have three or more kids aged 12 years old and below and also those with children who are tall for their age should consider upgrading their vehicles as they need to have a car restraint system (CRS) or car seats.

The LTO official later apologized and said his remark was '' made in jest.''

The transportation department said it will suspend implementing fines if parents or drivers do not comply with the law, but insisted that the law is in force. It said it will come up with a information campaign to enlighten parents. Robina Asido/DMS