SC stops release of car plates

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday stopped the release of 300,000 pairs of license plates earlier seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and donated to the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

The high court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the LTO from releasing or distributing to motor vehicle owners the license plates turned over by the BOC last April.

The LTO vowed to comply with the SC order, although it was yet to obtain a copy of the decision as of yesterday afternoon.

LTO chief Roberto Cabrera said he has yet to know or verify the exact order and would stop distribution of the remaining plates.

Also covered by the TRO are 400,000 license plates for motorcycles that were simultaneously donated by the BOC.

SC spokesman Theodore Te said the order is effective immediately and until further orders from the court.

The TRO was based on a petition filed by Reps. Jonathan de la Cruz of Abakada party-list and Gustavo Tambunting of the second district of Parañaque.

The plates were held at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) for about a year before these were confiscated by the BOC from Filipino-Dutch consortium, J. Knieriem B.V. Goes and Power Plates Development Concept Inc. (JKG-PPI), for failure to pay some P40 million in duties and taxes.

The JKG-PPI bagged the P3.8-billion deal for the supply of the car plates.

The petitioners questioned the donation of the license plates by the BOC to the LTO, in view of a notice of disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit (COA) on the motor vehicle license plate standardization program in July last year.

The lawmakers cited the COA notice requiring the return to the government of P477.9 million in advance payment made by LTO to JKG-PPI.

On April 15, BOC Commissioner Alberto Lina turned over to LTO chief Roberto Cabrera the license plates that were stored in 11 shipping containers.

Leo Romero, counsel for the petitioners, hailed the SC decision, saying it was “a victory for the Filipino people.” – With Robertzon Ramirez