Real solutions, not ‘virtual’ plates

Woe to us. We had expected a nimble and agile government under the present dispensation, but it seems we have to be more patient before our misery ends over the delayed issuance of the official motor vehicle license plates.

Nowhere in the world, but the Philippines, will you see a motley of license plate designs attached to the front and rear of motor vehicles on the streets. Some are on paper, cardboard, plastic (of different thickness), and the metal plates (old green ones and the new black-and-whites).

They come in different colors, designs, and sizes. Some are falling off, others fading or chipped. I’ve seen one of an exotic luxury brand where the manufacturer’s logo was larger than the conduction number.

Only in the Philippines do we have a laughably unique description by our government officials of substitute vehicle plates being “virtual,” perhaps an expression attempting to be attuned to digital trends, or just trying to be cute, or just plain BS.

Sixteen months into the new dispensation, our current government officials can no longer point fingers to the previous administration, whose equally faulty and controversial procedures to implement a motor vehicle license plate standardization program supposedly to conform to internationally accepted norms, had epically failed.

Lutong Macao

If you follow the latest stories on this brouhaha, the most recent attempt by the Land Transportation Office to get the physical official plates in production is imperiled by a possible suit arising from a concerned citizen’s letter that two of the three bidders – all German – who expressed interest in the bidding were intertwined through a business partnership.

In more graphic Filipino terms, this would be called lutong Macao since there seemed to be no formal disclosure by the two companies of their being business partners, even if the second company was later disqualified for lack of proper documentation and, therefore. did not participate in the actual bidding.

The third German company, whose bid was just P1,200 higher than the winning German bidder’s P978,800, raises similar suspicions of being rigged. If the winning bidder is disqualified for dishonesty, the bidding will be deemed a failure since there is only one bidder left.

Coincidentally, the tip from this anonymous concerned citizen seems similar to that which blew the lid on a seemingly anomalous bidding process for the same vehicle plates in 2014, and reportedly involved among others, the financially under-qualified winning Dutch firm, its Filipino partner, and former transportation secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya.

Our whistleblower (or whistleblowers) exposed consistent ethical breaches by government officials involved in million-peso contracts, which is a good thing, but has delayed the resolution of what should be a simple delivery of goods.

The bidding involving the German companies was concluded in August, but the exposition of possible fraud will likely delay over the delivery of the new standard plates.

It should be in the public’s interest to immediately declare if some irregularities had indeed transpired and to commence with sanctions, to open the debate to other issues (i.e., budget allocation), and to announce the next course of action—thereby showing some sense of responsibility to this long-standing travesty.

The same process should hold true for other services by the LTO that have been embroiled in some form of anomaly. All these are piling one on top of the other, and the public’s patience seems to be thinning out. We don’t need virtual plates; we need real solutions.

A reader’s view

A reader, who requested anonymity, sent a letter on the process involving the LTO’s acquisition of vehicle plates. Here’s what he says.

“The conduction numbers are six digits long, are poorly made, sometimes with non-pigment inks that fade, or are difficult to read when new, plus the car owners who make fancy plates, that conform to no standard.

“How difficult would it be to allocate the final number/letter combination as intended for the unavailable plates, but installed by the dealers to become temporary plates of the real thing, but standardize them with white letters on black background with standard font and size?

“When the LTR plates become available, it would be a painful process to change them. I say painful because the number coding changes with the plates under the present system, which disrupts family life when planned around the conduction plates at present.

“I don’t know the law regarding the display of plates, but it is strictly enforced in Europe where the ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras log vehicle movements, and is used for revenue collection or crime solving or just logging vehicles with no road tax or insurance.

“For ANPR, it is very useful, but requires an accurate database of every vehicle coupled to the insurance database, and check for banned or dangerous vehicles.

“That would be the problem here as there would be no database and would have to be constructed from data input from new car sales and manually input from older records. A mammoth task, but a start could be made by enforcing laws that:

• Require all four-wheeled (and above) vehicles to display plates.

• Ban any plastic or glass covers that would restrict vision to the plates.

• Ban fake or extra plates underneath legal one.

• Ban additional plates displayed alongside legal plate.

• (State) no embellishment such as MD or BIR or fake police logo.

• Require all plates to be kept clean.

“Plus, stricter enforcement of the laws.”

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Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 25th Floor, 139 Corporate Center, Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at [email protected]. For a compilation of previous articles, visit www.BizlinksPhilippines.net.