Hit by theft, LTO warns vs fake plates

Inquirer file photo

A “skinny” thief broke into the Land Transportation Office (LTO) on East Avenue, Quezon City, over the Holy Week break and stole cut and uncut aluminum sheets that could be used to make at least 15,000 duplicate license plates for vehicles.

The incident prompted LTO spokesperson Jason Salvador to issue a warning against fake vehicle plates and to report these cases to the agency.

According to the LTO, the stolen aluminum sheets are used in making the old green-and-white license plates that are issued as duplicates for lost plates.

Rogelio Buduan of the LTO Plate Making Plant told the Inquirer on Tuesday that the theft was discovered after employees of the LTO main office returned to work on Monday following the four-day Holy Week break.

A check showed that 10,000 plate-sized cut sheets were missing, along with 1,250 uncut aluminum sheets. Each uncut sheet can be turned into four license plates.

“We were conscious of the long vacation because there had been a precedent of missing plates. We’ve put markings to know if the stock’s been tampered with,” Buduan said.

“When we entered [the storage] after the flag ceremony, we saw that some of the boxes [containing the aluminum sheets had been] upended,” he added.

Police findings

The report of the Kamuning police station said that “during [a] thorough inspection of the spacious plant, [they found out that a] welded iron plate bar used to seal off the exhaust [vent had been] forcibly opened, making an entry [point] for a possible skinny suspect.”

In 2013, the Department of Transportation and Communications bid out a contract for new standardized license plates. However, the Commission on Audit disallowed the P3.8-billion contract with Power Plates Development Concepts Inc. and Dutch firm J. Knieriem BV-Goes last year. This has hampered the issuance of the new black-and-white license plates. -Erika Sauler