EDITORIAL - At last, license plates?

The supply contract was signed way back in 2014. Now, four years and a new administration later, it looks like hundreds of thousands of vehicle owners might finally get their license plates.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court lifted an order that it issued in 2016, preventing the Land Transportation Office from distributing 300,000 pairs of license plates for motor vehicles and another 400,000 for motorcycles. The plates were “donated” to the LTO and the Department of Transportation by the Bureau of Customs for distribution, but two lawmakers went to the SC and challenged the legality of the deal.

Vehicle owners have had an interminable wait for the license plates, which are fully paid for upon registration. Some of the affected owners have since bought new cars or motorcycles, which also have no license plates. All over the country, conduction stickers have taken the place of license plates.

The supply contract was awarded when the DOTr was still the Department of Transportation and Communications. A joint venture of the Netherlands-based J. Knieiriem B.V. Goes and local company Power Plates Development Concept was awarded the contract in February 2014 to provide 5.2 million license plates for motor vehicles and nearly 9.97 million for motorcycles, with safety features such as tamper-resistant locks and bolts and reflectorized sheeting.

These days, vehicle owners improvise with cardboard plates. The ease by which such makeshift plates can be made and changed surely contributes to criminality, especially among motorcycle riders. For an administration that gives priority to the campaign against crime, the distribution of license plates must be given urgency. The LTO has a backlog of six million license plates. With the SC order, the LTO must get moving. Motorists have waited long enough.