Higher registration fees for owners of multiple vehicles pushed

MANILA, Philippines - Two Mindanao legislators have filed a bill requiring vehicle owners with more than one motor vehicle to pay higher registration fees.

Under House Bill 4181, authored by Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and. Abante Mindanao partylist Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr., will impose additional rates on the annual registration of a second and subsequent vehicle registered under the same owner.

Under the bill, additional rates for the annual registration of a second vehicle shall be charged the amount of P5,000, a third vehicle P7,000 and P10,000 for a fourth and each subsequent vehicle.

The Department of Transportation and Communications and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) are mandated to promulgate rules and regulations to ensure the effective implementation of the Act.

Data from LTO that showed the number of vehicles increased from 5,891,272 registered vehicles in 2008 to 6,220,433 in 2009 and to 6,634,855 in 2010 for an average increase of 6.2 percent annually.

Rodriguez said that there are too many vehicles plying the roads and there are not enough roads for them which results in heavy traffic.

He said all these vehicles cause too much air pollution, which harms the health of the people.

He cited the The World Health Organization (WHO) report which reveals that as much as 65 percent of the pollutants in the Philippines are from motor vehicles.

“WHO statistics showed that carbon monoxide has the biggest pollution load contribution of 50 percent, mainly due to the increasing numbers of gasoline-fed vehicles, including cars comprise of 13.58 percent and motorcycles/tricycles cover 47.88 percent,” Rodriguez said.

He added that a 2004 report of the Department of Health (DOH) revealed that considerable morbidity and mortality due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases could have been prevented with better air quality in Metro Manila in 2002.

He also cited another report by the Asian Development Bank in 2005 that particulate matter (PM10) caused premature death and chronic respiratory illnesses and the health cost was estimated to be $430 million per year.

“With technology for alternative or renewable sources of energy still very inefficient and expensive, there is a need to devise new ways that could help lower the number of vehicles roaming the streets of the country,” Rodriguez said.