Federal ‘Republic without plates’

Two years have passed but the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte remains to govern a “Republika ng Walang Plaka” which he inherited from his immediate predecessor. Loosely translated, we continue to live under a “Republic Without Plates,” a pejorative description of how millions of motor vehicles registered at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) are on the road being driven without license plates.

In lieu of plates, conduction stickers on these motor vehicles were being allowed by our enforcement authorities to serve the purpose. Obviously piqued by the situation, some wise guys came up with “Republika ng Walang Plaka”  plates in their motor vehicles because up to now LTO has yet to issue them license plates despite already being registered.

Department of Transportations (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade was earlier quoted as saying they are looking to finish the more than 2.2-million license plate backlog since the start of the administration by third quarter next year. The Duterte administration decided that LTO should henceforth produce license plates through its own manufacturing plant in a bid to avoid the repeat of past problems. The LTO is one of the attached agencies of the DOTr.

The government awarded the P978-million license plate project to the Trojan Computer Forms Manufacturing Corp. and JH. Tonnjes E.A.S.T. GmbH joint venture last year. The license plate manufacturing plant was inaugurated last April and currently has a production rate of 8,000 plates per day.

We originally invited LTO chief, retired police general Edgar Galvante to discuss this public concern in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay. After several invites, Galvante finally accepted our invite. However, at the last minute, Galvante sent words he could not make it after being summoned to attend the public hearing of the Senate committee on public services chaired by Sen. Grace Poe on the same day in Cagayan de Oro City.

Torrential rains in Metro Manila forced the cancelation of the Senate public hearing. It was supposed to be attended by Poe’s fellow re-electionist Senators, Bam Aquino and JV Ejercito. Purportedly, the Senate public hearing in the province was regarding the effects of the newly passed tax reform law on public utilities. It was reset to be held on July 31 back at the Senate.

Galvante sent instead two of his deputies to our Kapihan sa Manila Bay that we hold every Wednesday at Café Adriatico in Remedios Circle, Malate. Atty. Mercy Jane Paras, acting LTO chief for operations, and Dir. Francis Almora of LTO law and enforcement division who did not disappoint us with their presence and active participation despite the rains and floods poured by “habagat” in Metro Manila and elsewhere.

Former Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) board member Ariel Inton who now leads Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection and George Royeca who heads his own Transport Watch advocacy group joined our discussions at the news forum.

Paras candidly admitted the continuing problem of the un-distributed motor plates to more than 15 million vehicle owners who paid for them in their annual registration at the LTO. Of the total 15 million, Paras disclosed, the LTO has so far distributed only two million plates on four-wheel motor vehicles purchased starting July 2016.

She explained the backlog does not include motor vehicles registered before July 2016 which remain under negotiations with the original contractor. This was the subject of the notice of disallowances issued by the Commission on Audit (COA) upon review of the procurement contract entered into by the previous LTO leadership. The procurement of plates imported from abroad by the contractor was suspended following a legal dispute with the LTO that reached all the way to the Supreme Court (SC).   

From LTO records, the backlog from February 2014 to June 30, 2016 is pegged at 5.8-million motor vehicle plates.

Not included in the disallowances were the 2.5 million motorcycles registered at the LTO that ply the roads but without plates up to now.

Almora, for his part, advised motorists they can use their vehicles’ conduction stickers as temporary plates while waiting for the LTO-issued car plates. In the meantime, Almora announced the LTO had started the release and distribution of license plates for motor vehicles not covered by the COA disallowances.

As the head of the LTO Enforcement Division, Almora conceded it is indeed difficult for them to go after colorum and other moving violations, especially if used in the commission of crimes, if these two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles do not even have any license plates.

We learned from the disclosure of the two LTO executives that an average of 300,000 new motor vehicles from cars to trucks are added on the roads all over the country plus 800,000 new motorcycles each year.

No wonder we have so much traffic problems in Metro Manila and other highly urbanized areas in the country.

With addition each year of new vehicles roads are not getting any wider and other basic infrastructure still lag behind.

In the case of motorcycles being turned into tricycles, Inton explained national government agencies like the LTO and the LTFRB have only limited powers in terms of registration and regulations over drivers via licenses. Inton, himself a former Quezon city councilor, pointed out, the local government units (LGUs) have control and supervision over tricycles since 1991 when the Local Government Code took effect.

For Royeca, as an advocate for Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS), pressed their group’s appeals to the LTO and LTFRB, and most specially to the DoTr, to amend an existing administrative order to include motorcycle so that existing “motorcycle taxi” operators may finally be allowed to run legally rather than add to the colorum problem of “habal-habal” operators.

While it’s full speed ahead for the Duterte federal shift of government, millions of motor vehicles in our country continue to ply the roads under a “Republika ng Walang Plaka.”