New LTO plates deformed by a small flood

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) chose a Dutch company supposedly to make more durable car plates, but a lawmaker claims the new license plates can’t even stand a small flood that leaves the plates deformed.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III was puzzled by the LTO brushing off mounting complaints about the poor quality of the new license plates.

“One motorist complained how his new license plates bent as he waded through knee-high floods in Quezon City saying that the water bouncing back from the radiator was enough to bend the plates, which he says never happened to his old plates,” Albano said.

The lawmaker said the LTO just made a “limp reply” by announcing that it was ready to replace any deformed plate at no cost to the owner after an in-house investigation.

‘Lame excuses’

“The evidence is staring them in the face, and yet they are looking for lame excuses,” said Albano, a member of the House committee on transportation.

The Inquirer tried to get the comment of LTO chief Alfonso Tan and LTO spokesman Jason Salvador but calls were not answered. As of press time, they had neither replied to text messages specifying Albano’s criticisms.

Albano said he could not understand why the LTO would prefer a foreign manufacturer, Power Plates Development Concepts Inc. and J. Knieriem BV Goes, to produce the plates when local makers were more than capable of doing the job.

“For decades, the LTO has been able to provide locally manufactured car plates with sufficient security features and durable materials as evidenced by millions of still usable and serviceable car plates on the road,” he said.

He also criticized the LTO spokesman for claiming that the new plates were of “high quality” with better security features “because these were the same plates being used in other countries.”

“This is hogwash coming from the LTO swill. Why do we have to copy from other countries?” said Albano, who noted that the bar codes in the new car plates were virtually useless.

Based on his staff’s research, Albano said the LTO, police and traffic enforcers had no bar code readers while the bar codes did not contain any information about the vehicle owner.

‘Milk and bilk’

Aside from quality issues, Albano said the Commission on Audit (COA) had already ordered the LTO to stop collecting fees for the new plates from motorists renewing their annual registrations.

He called the P3.8-billion new car plates program a “milk and bilk” racket meant to add a bigger burden on motorists who were already paying road users’ taxes and insurance.

“This entire program is not only illegal and a financial mess but a logistical disaster resulting in delayed delivery of the new car plates by the ‘favored contractor’ who manufactures them abroad,” Albano said.–Gil C. Cabacungan, with a report from Erika Sauler