CEBU, Philippines - The IT provider of the Land Transportation Office defended the controversial Radio Frequency Identification project of the LTO saying it can help increase the income of drivers once “colorum” vehicles are eliminated and traffic is reduced
Ramon Reyes, Vice President for Business Operation and Client Management Division of Stradcom Corp. said that he is optimistic that the RFID project will take unregistered vehicles off the streets.
Stradcom is the contractor for the proposed RFID system and several other multibillion projects with government agencies, such as the proposed national identification project of the Social Security System and the mandatory vehicle insurance project of the LTO.
“RFID is a motor vehicle identification using radio frequency and it is new in the Philippines but it is used in other developing countries and developed countries”, said Reyes.
RFID incorporates the use of electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to uniquely identify an object, animal, or person.
The new system involves the tagging of a sticker on all vehicles.
The sticker contains a microchip that will store vehicle information which can only be retrieved by authorized LTO personnel and law enforcers, thereby eliminating tampering.
Motorists will only pay a one-time tagging fee of P350 as they register their vehicles.
The LTO’s RFID tag is expected to last for 10 years, which means that the RFID effectively costs just P35 per year. He also cited important benefits of RFID in which one of this is in terms of anti-criminal activities.
Also, RFID is expected to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the LTO’s law enforcement capabilities, effectively improving traffic conditions via the apprehension of frequent violators and out-of-the-line vehicles. — Johanna T. Natavio/BRP (FREEMAN NEWS)