HPG to invite Dingdong to explain license plate

MANILA, Philippines - The Highway Patrol Group (HPG) is set to invite actor Dingdong Dantes to “rectify the improper display” of his black Chevrolet Suburban’s license plate, an official said yesterday.

HPG director Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina told The STAR that Land Transportation Office (LTO) records show that Dantes’ plate, “Sixto,” is a vanity plate issued to the actor’s sport utility vehicle (SUV).

“Per guideline from LTO, vanity plates must be placed at the rear and on top of MV’s (Motor Vehicle) regular rear plate number,” Espina said.

Espina said HPG-National Capital Region chief Senior Superintendent Felix Castillo  tried to invite the actor through his personal assistant, Perry Lansigan, to discuss and correct the violation but the actor is reportedly out of the country and may be back on June 25.

Castillo said Lansigan assured him that he will inform the actor to rectify the improper display.

However, in a statement to The STAR yesterday, Dantes was not apparently informed by Lansigan about the HPG’s message. The actor denied that he violated the rules of the HPG on sporting commemorative and vanity plates for his SUV.

“Clearly, I have not violated any law. Regrettably, I was sentenced by publicity,” Dantes, who is Jose Sixto Dantes III in real life, said in a letter to The STAR. “I cry out for justice not because I regard myself too highly, but only because it casts a doubt to my sincerity of helping others, in my own little way.”

Dantes said he paid for the “Sixto” vanity plate for his Suburban, which he used when he visited Camp Crame to grace the government’s disaster preparedness program last week.

“What I have is a vanity license plate (VLP) that is completely legal, distinctly registered and identifiable to me and my van and fully paid for, in the next five years,” he said.

Dantes said his plate is a “higher type” of VLP, “which I paid with premium with the LTO as it carries my namesake and has no numbers. This was how the LTO officer where I registered my van explained it to me.”

Dantes quoted LTO legal consultant Rodil Millado as saying “there is no need for VLP holders to install or attach” the standard issued plate “as the VLP is a duly registered, licensed and fully paid for plate with the LTO.”