Car owners warned vs ‘made to order’ plates

MANILA, Philippines — Motorists should refrain from buying “made to order” or stolen license plates available on the market, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos said yesterday.

He issued the warning following the arrest of three Land Transportation Office (LTO) employees who reportedly manufactured and stole plates from the agency’s plate-making facility.

Abalos said the stolen plates could be used for criminal activities as these are undocumented.

“To those who are planning to buy a car, make sure you check with LTO for this,” he said in a briefing.

LTO chief Vigor Mendoza said that they tracked down the syndicate working in the LTO facility through the help of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

“The investigation will continue to see how wide this is,” he said.

Mendoza said there were closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage and testimonies from other employees that led to the arrest of the suspects, who have been working at the LTO on a job order status since 2018.

Jenard Arida, Arjay Anasco and Valeriano Nerizon – who are detained at the Kamuning police station – were seen on CCTV footage getting the plates, stuffing these in the clothes they wore and hiding the plates in the boxes of their motorcycles before driving off after work.

The LTO said the plates were not only stolen, they were manufactured as “made to order plates.”

Mendoza said that the suspects’ clientele are still under investigation.

The LTO has so far tracked down 38 illegally made and stolen plates, but the agency is continuing its audit from 2018 to know how many plates have been stolen.