Transport groups buck stay on car-tagging project

THE GOVERNMENT has found an ally in the vehicle-tagging device scheme from transport groups which asked the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday to quash a petition by militant lawmakers to junk the project.

In their motion for intervention, the groups said the radio frequency identification device (RFID) would help in cracking down on illegal public utility vehicles, address car theft, hasten regulatory processes and ensure compliance with transport rules and regulations.

The RFID would require one-time fee of P350 good for 10 years that would be collected upon registration of the vehicle with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) starting this year. New models with three-year registration would also be required to acquire the device not later than October.

Implemented last Jan. 1, the RFID, stored in a conspicuous part of the car, would store details such as smoke emission test results and franchise permit in the case of public utility vehicles that could be read by scanners randomly located along thoroughfares.

"The RFID reader will be able to detect those public utility vehicles without valid [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board or LTFRB] certificate of public convenience/franchise, and those that are privately owned; thereby providing enforcers an effective tool in the physical identification of colorum vehicles on the road," the transport groups said.

They noted that the proliferation of illegal utility vehicles over the years has affected the income of drivers with franchises.

The RFID, they added, would hasten transactions between the LTO and LTFRB, virtually a one-stop shop operation, and would ensure compliance with smoke emission testing.

The transport groups are Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (Fejodap), Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, Land Transportation Organization of the Philippines, NTU-Transporter, Pasang-Masda Nationwide, Inc. and Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations.

They debunked the allegations of party-list Rep. Saturnino C. Ocampo and Teodoro A. Casiño, Jr. (Bayan Muna), Joel Maglunsod (Anakpawis) and Liza L. Maza (Gabriela Women’s Party), and transport group Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston), all of whom claimed in a petition filed last month that the project did not undergo proper procurement processes.

The case would be discussed in today’s SC en banc. -- IPP