Lawmaker renews call for ban on ‘8’ plates

MANILA, Philippines — Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco yesterday reiterated his call for Congress or the House of Representatives leadership to prohibit the use of the special license plate number 8 among its members.

He made the call after seeing complaints on social media about the continued use of expired 8 plates. One post shows a white top-of-the-line Toyota Fortuner 3.0 bearing white-and-black 16th Congress 2013-2016 license plates. 

Some sport utility vehicles owned by former congressmen or their friends still use the older white-and-blue plates.

Many luxury vehicles journalists see parked at the House premises at the Batasan Pambansa complex in Quezon City sport 17th Congress and 16th Congress protocol plates.

“This is my third term as congressman. I have never used an 8 plate. How do we know that the person on board is a congressman or a criminal posing as a congressman? Most important is that we, as lawmakers, don’t deserve any special privilege,” Tiangco said. 

He recalled that on June 30, 2016, nearly a month before the current Congress convened, he filed Bill 413, which sought to prohibit the issuance and use of special 8 plates.

“Sad part is no committee hearing up to this day,” he said.

In August 2016, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had ordered the recall of all license plates issued during the 16th and previous Congresses in the wake of re ports of abuse by their users.

Tiangco had suggested that the recall should cover members of the current 17th Congress as well.

“We don’t need those protocol plates in doing our job as lawmakers and in serving our constituents. They serve only as symbols of perks and privilege,” he said.

He said the use of special vehicle plates has always been associated with privilege and abusive behavior.

He invoked the constitutional admonition for public officials to “lead modest lives” in filing Bill 413. 

Under Department Order No. 2014-004 of the then Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), special protocol plates 1 could be issued to the President, 2 to the Vice President, 3 to the Senate president, and 4 to the Speaker of the House.

The protocol plate 5 could be issued to the chief justice, 6 to Cabinet members, 7 to senators, 8 to House member, 9 to Supreme Court justices, 10 to presiding justice and solicitor general, 11 to the Commission on Elections chairman, 12 to Cabinet undersecretaries, 14 to the chief of staff of the Armed Forces and Philippine National Police chief, and 16 to regional trial court judges.

Then DOTC secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya signed the order.