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MANILA, Philippines – “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”
This was the question raised by Senate President Pro Tempore to the government on the plan of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to replace all existing car license plates with a new one beginning next month.
Recto said on Wednesday, March 12, that the plan is illogical and urged the government to limit the installation of new car plates to brand new vehicles up for registration.
“It will be a waste of a car owner’s money, not to mention his time, if his car plate, which is still in perfect condition, and which still functions as a vehicle identification mark, will be replaced,” the senator said.
He said since the new plate will bear the same old numbers car owners should be spared from queuing at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) just to have their car plates replaced with a new design.
“Why order the mass cancellation of 9 million motor vehicle plates just because a new version will be introduced? Bakit idadamay ang mga lumang plaka na hindi naman sira? Bakit hindi na lamang sa mga bagong kotse ilagay ang bagong plaka?” Recto said. (Why cover old plates that are not broken with this new policy? Why not just put the new plates on brand new cars?)
Recto said the plan would only profit the DOTC and the license plate manufacturer. [They] will be making a killing by creating a captive market for a product, in so far as existing cars are concerned, that is not needed.”
Under the DOTC plan, car owners will pay P450 for a pair of new plates. Of this amount, the DOTC will get a P70 share as administration fee, while the manufacturer’s share is P380.
Not a ‘talisman’ vs car theft
He dismissed the DOTC’s justification that the new plates will improve vehicle security.
“A car plate can never be an anti-carnapping device. Kahit na nga ‘8’ ang plaka, nananakaw pa. (Even if your plate bears ‘8,’ it can get stolen.) A plate can never be a talisman against theft,” Recto said.
The number 8 is the protocol plate number assigned to congressmen.
Recto said the best deterrent against car theft are “not some tamper-resistant locks on a plate” but “increased police patrols, well-lighted streets, the dismantling of carjacking syndicates, and the the arrest of their leaders.”
He said the reported practice of buses, for-hire and public utility vehicles (PUVs) of switching and duplicating license plates can be addressed “by serious law enforcement.”
Recto also failed to see the role of new car plates in improving traffic flow in Metro Manila.
The senator said the “general problem” with car plates is not their design but their short supply and non-availability, and as such, “the solution is to make them readily available and not to make their installation mandatory to all vehicles.”
He said it is lamentable that a 3-ton vehicle only takes an average of two days to be built in Japan but in the Philippines, it takes almost a year to provide a car with a license plate weighing just a few hundred grams.
The senator, however, found merit in replacing PUV license plates with a new version that will include their routes.
“I fully agree that this can weed out colorum vehicles and prevent the cloning of car plates,” Recto said.
Others have also voiced their objection to the plan, including failed senatorial candidate Jack Enrile, who had called for a protest against the project. – Rappler.com
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