Supreme Court suspends RFID tagging of vehicles

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) temporarily stopped yesterday the implementation of the controversial radio frequency identification (RFID) project of the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

The High Court has issued a status quo ante order, which restores the prevailing situation prior to the implementation of the project earlier this month until further notice from the Court, according to SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez.

In a press conference, Marquez said the SC stopped the implementation of RFID “to prevent continuous irreparable injuries of the project to the parties.”

With this development, he said motorists who have already registered their vehicles and complied with the RFID can go back to LTO and refund their payment for the new project.

Marquez, however, clarified that the issuance of the status quo ante order does not necessarily mean that the court already granted the petition filed by party-list groups seeking to declare the LTO project illegal.

“The merits of the case are still pending. Respondents led by DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communications) are directed to submit comment on the petition within 10 days,” he said.

In a petition filed last Dec. 16, three party-list groups and a militant transport group asked the High Court to issue a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction against the RFID project, which is set to be fully implemented next month.

The petitioners – Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casino of Bayan Muna, Liza Maza of Gabriela Women’s Party, Joel Maglungsod of Anakpawis and secretary general George San Mateo of Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide – said the LTO project should be declared illegal as it supposedly did not pass through legal channels, including a public bidding process and review from the National Economic Development Agency.

The RFID is a joint project of the LTO, DOTC and Stradcom Corp. Under this project, all vehicles due for registration or renewal of registration will be required to have stickers containing a microchip that stores vehicle information.

Marquez said the SC also accepted the intervention in the case filed Monday by various transport groups, led by the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, that expressed support for the RFID project.