License plates to be released

MANILA, Philippines — Expect fewer vehicles in the streets with improvised or even quirky plates following the Supreme Court’s lifting yesterday of a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the release of 700,000 license plates.

SC spokesman Theodore Te said the high court dismissed the petition filed by Reps. Jonathan dela Cruz of Abakada party-list and Parañaque Rep. Gustavo Tambunting questioning the legality of the Bureau of Customs (BOC)s’ donation of the license plates to the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

The petitioners said the BOC, which had seized the plates, should not have turned them over to the LTO, as there was still a notice of disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit (COA) on the LTO’s Motor Vehicle License Plate Standardization Program (LTO-MVLPSP).

LTO chief Edgar Galvante said they have yet to receive an official copy of the decision but said it was “good news.” He stressed the release of the plates would not totally solve the problem as there is a backlog of over six million in undelivered plates.

In a resolution issued on June 14, 2016, the high court prevented the LTO and the Department of Transportation from distributing the license plates.

In lifting the TRO, the SC unanimously declared as constitutional the use of the appropriation for the Motor Vehicle Registration and Driver’s Licensing Regulatory Services under the General Appropriations Act of 2014 for the implementation of the LTO-MVLPSP.

“The Court ruled that the 2014 GAA included an appropriation for the program and the use of the appropriation is constitutional,” Te added.

He also said the court took into consideration two issues raised in the petition – whether the 2014 GAA included an appropriation
for the MVLPSP and whether its use was constitutional.

On April 22, 2015, the SC ruled on the legality of the procurement under MVPSP of new license plates for both old and new vehicles registered.

The program covered the period July 2013 to June 2018 with a budget of P3.8 billion for the procurement of license plates for 5,236,439 motor vehicles and 9,968,017 motorcycles nationwide.

The then Department of Transportation and Communications awarded the project to the joint venture of Netherlands-based J. Knieiriem B.V. Goes and local company Power Plates Development Concept.

The contract was signed on Feb. 21, 2014.

The project involved adding safety features to license plates including tamper-resistant locks and bolts and reflectorized sheeting.

In the ruling, the SC agreed with the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) that the controversy had been rendered moot by the passage of the 2014 GAA.

Whatever defects that attended the procurement, they had been cured by the appropriation in the 2014 GAA of the full amount required, the SC said.

The court noted that while the petition filed by a group called Jacomille focused on the insufficient funding for the project under the 2013 GAA, it nevertheless determined that the 2014 GAA contained appropriation of P4.8 billion, or enough for the project to take off.

“The appropriation, both for procurement and implementation, has been examined and decided by the court and may not be assailed anew under the present petition based on the same grounds, which had already been dealt with in the Jacomille decision,” the SC ruled. - With Romina Cabrera