Customs turns over 300,000 car plates to LTO

MANILA, Philippines -License plates are now with the Land Transportation Office (LTO), but their release to vehicle owners remains uncertain.

The Bureau of Customs turned over to the LTO yesterday 300,000 pairs of vehicle license plates that have languished at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) for about a year, with the BOC deferring the collection of about P73 million in duties and fees for the shipment.

Releasing the plates to vehicle owners, however, still requires clearance from the Commission on Audit (COA).

Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina formally turned over yesterday morning to LTO chief Roberto Cabrera the license plates that were stored in 11 shipping containers.

Lina clarified that they did not donate the vehicle plates but turned them over to the LTO, the agency that has sole responsibility for distributing the plates to the owners of registered vehicles.

“These are high-security plates and they cannot fall into the hands of other people. It is only the LTO that should possess these car plates,” said Lina.

He added that they decided to give the plates to the LTO in the interest of the public even if they have not yet been paid the P25 million to P40 million in duties and taxes. This is aside from the storage and wharfage fees that could range from P3 million to P5 million.

Lina said that this transaction is now between two government agencies, “without prejudice to us and the turnover (of the car plates). Even if there is something that needs to be paid, we can no longer delay the release of these car plates… We need to turn them over to the LTO because the people already need them.”

The BOC and LTO have agreed to a “debit-credit” payment scheme in cases where the payment of taxes has been deferred. 

As for the original importer of the plates, the Filipino-Dutch consortium Knieriem BV Goes and Power Plates Development Concept Inc. (JKG-PPI), Lina said he would leave it to the COA to decide on the issue.

The COA previously issued a Notice of Disallowance to the LTO that prevented the agency from continuing its deal with JKG-PPI.

LTO’s Cabrera yesterday said he is confident that problems in the release of license plates that stemmed from the Notice of Disallowance issued by the COA will be resolved before President Aquino steps down from office in June.

Cabrera said during the turnover of vehicle plates from BOC that he is positive that the COA will rule on their pending petition to lift the disallowance soon.

Once the notice of disallowance has been lifted, the LTO can address the backlog which currently stands at around one million pairs of license plates, Cabrera noted.

“We are very confident that this case or these problems will be resolved, especially the plates, before the Aquino administration ends,” he said.

Cabrera said they are hoping that the COA will see the valid points in their petition, which they have filed way back in January.

The COA issued the Notice of Disallowance in June 2015 after state auditors ruled that the contract of LTO with JKG-PPI was not in accordance with the procedures prescribed under the Government Procurement Reform Act.

The JKG-PPI won the P3.8-billion five-year contract to supply vehicle plates in 2013.

Although the COA did not set a deadline when it will issue its decision, Cabrera said he had received word that COA will resolve it as soon as they can.

The LTO will now prepare the proper documentation prior to the release of the license plates to the different regional offices and motorists.

Cabrera added that his agency will study whether JKG-PPI had breached their contract with the government when it decided to abandon the license plates after failing to pay its dues and taxes.

“They were in default as far as the payment of taxes is concerned. We at the LTO have yet to study if there was a breach of contract. It may be that their contract is still good and valid as far as the LTO is concerned,” he said.

No-contact policy implementation

In a related development, Sen. Ralph Recto said that for the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to implement the no-contact apprehension policy, the LTO should start releasing the license plates of vehicles.

Recto said that the no-contact policy is a good scheme that could promote traffic discipline if properly implemented.

But in order to do this, he said that the government should plug some loopholes, specifically the inability of the LTO to provide the motorists with the license plates they have already paid for.

“The street cameras used may be of the high definition kind. But can they capture with certainty and clarity the image of that small conduction sticker? Just the same, the need to supply the plates is there. But this new MMDA program makes it more urgent,” Recto said.

He added that the MMDA should also provide a hotline for questions or complaints of motorists who have been “apprehended” for traffic violations under the no-contact policy. – With Romina Cabrera, Marvin Sy