No plates available

On the way to work and stuck in slow-moving traffic last Monday, I happened to listen to the phone-patch interview of Land Transportation Office (LTO) chairman Edgar Galvante over dzRH radio station. Galvante was being asked to comment on the proposed bill pending before the 17th Congress which seeks to enlarge the size of plate numbers for motorcycles as one of the means to deter commission of crimes, especially those involving tandem-riding gunmen and other criminals on the road.

A retired police general himself, Galvante supports the proposed legislation as a deterrent to crimes involving criminals who use motorcycles to easily get away from the crime scene. Undoubtedly, motorcycles are the perfect choice of transport by hired guns and other criminals for quick get-away vehicles, especially to avoid being caught in our traffic-gridlock roads.

The bill is being shepherded in Congress by the House committees on transportation chaired by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento and on public order chaired by Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, also a retired police general. Both House committees endorsed a consolidated bill of the four related measures proposing bigger plates for motorcycles. As proposed, the motorcycle plate size and design is to be determined by LTO and that the plate should be readable from a distance of 12 meters.

The Senate, much earlier, already approved on third and final reading a similar bill that would require motorcycles and scooters to have bigger and reflectorized license plates. Senate Bill No. 1397, or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act of 2017, authored by Senator Richard Gordon, chair of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, and then Senate majority leader and now Senate president Vicente Sotto III, co-authored the bill. It was approved in July last year, with 21 Senators voting in favor. 

The funny part is, the proposed legislation mandating the use of larger motorcycle plates might get passed into law sooner than the LTO could even deliver car plates.

Owners of vehicles bought and registered in 2016 but up to now have not gotten their car plates from LTO. Car dealers have resorted to issuing “virtual” car plates. But for many others, they have been using their conduction stickers for the past three years now.

Some motorists have come up with a funny car plate but with a stinging rebuke: NO PLATE AVAILABLE, Republika ng Walang Plaka.

Galvante admitted the LTO is precisely waiting for the passage into law of this proposed bill before they start producing the motorcycle plates. While there is logic to wait for this bill to be passed into law, we could not help but sigh in disbelief.

Supposedly, the LTO started the production of license plates at its own manufacturing facility last April this year to address the more than two-year backlog in motor vehicle plates. The Department of Transportation (DOTr), under which the LTO is one of attached agencies, gave assurances to the public they can expect the delivery of license plates by the second half of this year.

DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade who inspected the LTO Motor Vehicle License Plate Facility last April gave these assurances. This was after the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte decided for the LTO to produce instead its own license plates as part of the almost P978-million license plate project with the Trojan Computer Forms Manufacturing Corp. and J.H. Tonnjes E.A.S.T. GmbH Joint Venture.

The backlog in license plates started during the term of President Benigno Aquino III when the Commission on Audit (COA) issued a Notice of Disallowance over the P3.8-billion motor vehicle license plate procurement deal. The COA ruled the contract did not follow procedures prescribed under Republic Act (RA) 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

Tugade explained they wanted the LTO to produce its own plates in order to avoid a repeat of the problems which caused the backlog to hit over six million. That was in April after he inspected the seven units of Manual Embossing Machines that were calibrated and operated for ceremonial testing. According to the DOTr, the seven manual embossing machines are capable of producing 22,000 plates per day at full production and are expected to be delivered this July.

But yesterday, the LTO chief clarified they will still not be able to completely meet the backlog until the COA resolves the pending payment demand of the original contractor, before they will release the car plates already paid for by registered motor vehicles owners.

Really, such bureaucratic nightmares mess up our government services.

Take the case of the P3.6-million donation given by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) for the purchase of patrol motorcycles by the Philippine National Police-National Capital Region Police Office (PNP-NCRPO). The Pagcor check was turned over in February this year by Pagcor chairman and CEO Andrea Domingo to then NCRPO chief who is now the new PNP director-general Oscar Albayalde.

When he attended our Kapihan sa Manila Bay last Wednesday, Albayalde confessed he could not spend the P3.6-million donation for the purchase of new motorcycles to beef up the PNP patrol capability due to restrictions of the procurement law. Among other requirements, RA 9184 mandates public bidding for any procurement even if funds come from donations.

Albayalde – who goes around for inspection visits of police stations on board his Honda 1300 motorcycle – cited the importance of acquisition of additional “branded” motorcycles and police cars as effective anti-crime tools.

While waiting for additional police vehicles, Albayalde disclosed, he wants the PNP to neutralize motorcycle riding in tandem suspects (MRS) through other means like using “sticker” system to isolate and identify those who go through police checkpoints.

The proposed law on larger motorcycle plates could also help very much our law enforcers, the PNP chief cited.

But it should not be “No Plates Available.”