House orders recall of all expired ‘8’ plates issued during past congress

Batasang Pambansa plenary. —MALACAÑANG FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has ordered the recall of all expired “8” plates, or protocol plate numbers given to lawmakers who are part of past Congresses.

In a memorandum dated November 16 but was released to reporters on Monday, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said that plates can be turned over to his office for proper acknowledgement.

The number eight (8), in the Philippines’ special plate design, has been used to designate vehicles used by House members.

“This is to respectfully request the immediate recall of all expired Protocol Plates No. 8 issued during the past Congresses as well as spurious protocol 8 plates which may have come to your possession,” Velasco said in the memorandum.

“Kindly turn in these car plates to the Office of the Secretary General for proper acknowledgement.  Thank you,” he added.

Just this November 15, the Velasco said in a statement that they will ask both the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) for help in apprehending vehicles with unauthorized No. 8 vehicle plate numbers.

There have been reports that some individuals have been using old No. 8 plates or illegal replicas, or have name-dropped a House member to avoid apprehension for traffic violations.

READ: House wants MMDA, LTO to help run after cars with illegal No. 8 plates 

Last November 15 too, while the MMDA was in the heat of flagging down private and unauthorized vehicles passing through the exclusive bus lane along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa), there were reports that Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla’s vehicle was among those stopped.

The head of the MMDA Task Force Special Operations Unit, Bong Nebrija, reported this, but he eventually apologized to Revilla after the senator insisted that he was not in the vehicle.