DOTC car plates project slammed

RECTO

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it—unless you just want to make money.

A senator is questioning the plan of the Department of Transportation and Communications to replace some nine million vehicular license plates nationwide starting next month, a move supposedly aimed at curbing car theft.

Sen. Ralph Recto wondered why the DOTC had decided to replace even plates that were still in good condition. “Why replace all? What’s wrong with my plate and your plate? What’s wrong with those plate numbers? There’s nothing wrong with them,” he said in an Inquirer interview.

The lawmaker is a member of the Senate committee on public services that conducted a hearing Tuesday on the delays in the issuance of plates by the Land Transportation Office, an attached agency of the DOTC.

The LTO earlier announced that it would issue plates of new designs. Plates for private vehicles, for example, will contain three control letters and four digits (like ZDR 4422), while motorcycle plates will have two control letters and five digits (like BB 12345).

Plates for public utility vehicles will have three control letters and four digits.

ABAYA

While causing a hassle and extra expenses on the part of vehicle owners who have to line up at the LTO, the senator said, the project would surely make a fortune for the favored supplier of the new plates.

“It looks like business,” he said, and the “captive market” would be the vehicle owners who must cough up P450 each for a pair of new plates. Of this amount, P380 goes to the manufacturer while P70 goes to the DOTC as “administration fee.”

As to the DOTC’s explanation that the new plates would improve a car’s security against theft, Recto said: “A plate can never be a talisman or an anticarnapping device. Even (congressmen’s) cars that bear the No. 8 plates get stolen.”

But in a joint statement Friday, the DOTC and LTO maintained that the new license plates would have safety features such as tamper-proof bolts that would permanently attach them to the vehicle, reflectorized sheeting to make them visible even from a distance and from any angle; and a “third-plate” sticker which would display the plate numbers on windshields and could not be torn off without leaving a trace.

These features would curb illegal or colorum operations that become possible when plates are easily removed and transferred to another vehicle, the agencies said, noting that car theft syndicates had been known to engage in such schemes.

The new plates would also come with “road discipline” features to help authorities spot traffic or franchise violations. Protocol plates issued to members of Congress, for example, will also indicate their term of office. It will therefore be easier to tell if an “expired” plate is still being used beyond the lawmaker’s term.

“We believe that public officials will appreciate these new features, since we should all lead by example,” Transport Secretary Joseph Abaya said in the statement.

The department also clarified a few points regarding the cost of the plates.

“The new license plates will still cost the same: P450 for 4-wheel vehicles and P120 for motorcycles.  These are the current prices, so it’s not correct to say that they will cost more. New vehicle owners, (or) those who will register their vehicles for the first time beginning Feb. 17 this year, will be charged the same rate as everyone else before,” Abaya added.

“The additional cost will be for owners of the current license plates, who will have to pay those amounts to get the new designs.  But this is a one-time payment only.  In exchange, we get many security features which will improve the safety of our families and loved ones,” he added.

For public utility vehicles, their license plates will indicate the region where the registration was made.  Public utility buses will also bear the label “city bus” or “provincial bus,” and their “third plate” sticker will reflect their authorized routes.

“These will help improve road discipline and safety.  They will enable traffic enforcers to apprehend PUVs that violate their franchises.  Legitimate PUV operators should welcome this since colorum vehicles will be weeded out,” Abaya stressed.