LTO on Imelda Marcos' 8 plate: 'Not easy to flag vehicles using them'

MANILA, Philippines — Despite Imelda Marcos' van being photographed by dozens of media outlets taking her to the Sandiganbayan on November 16, a Land Transportation Office official said they still would not be able to apprehend or cite her for the violation.

"This particular instance is finished. So we don't know if she's still using the plate after media saw it," LTO Law Enforcement Service Director Francis Almora said during an interview with CNN Philippines on Wednesday.

But when asked if using the plate was legal, Almora said that "it's not."

Marcos arrived at the Sandiganbayan on that day — where she appeared to appeal a graft conviction — in a white Toyota Coaster that was still using the protocol plates that were issued in 2013, during the 16th congress.

According to Almora, no plates have been issued during the 17th congress, and therefore the van should not have been using the plate.

Almora also admitted that enforcers may be intimdated to flag down a vehicle using a congressional plate.

"It would not just be easy to flag down a motor vehicle with that plate, No. 8. There's that part ma'am, but we still do our job," Almora said in the same interview.

House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered a recall of plates that haven't been returned yet on November 14 after a road rage incident involving a driver of an SUV with the special protocol plate went viral.

READ: After road rage incident, Arroyo orders recall of protocol plates

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya (Camarines Sur) said Arroyo made the decision to recall the protocol plates after receiving reports they were being used in "unacceptable places" or for illegal activities.

Activist groups have also slammed the courts and police for alleged special treatment for the former first late and wife of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

READ: Groups question delay in issuance of warrant vs Imelda

"Marcos' age and gender was never the issue, but her connections and the PNP's selective application of the law. If this was about age and gender, hundred of political prisoners and poor inmates would be given the same humanitarian consideration," the Campaign Agsint the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang said on November 14. — Ryan Macasero