MANILA - The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is currently facing a motor vehicle backlog of 12.9 million – 9 million of which are motorcycle plates.

But this volume, according to Senator Francis Tolentino, can even balloon from 14 million to 15 million plate backlog next year if the LTO will not expeditiously address this issue.

“During our first hearing, ang backlog ng plaka sa motorsiklo ay 9 million. Ngayon, 12.9 million na, 13 million na ilang buwan pa lang ang nakakalipas... How can we address this seemingly insurmountable backlog of our plates for our motorcycle owners?” Tolentino asked.

“Baka after new year, magpo-14, 15 million na ito,” the senator added.

“Sa tingin ko, itong crime prevention natin with the use of motorcycles. Mas importante magkaroon ng plaka lahat ng motorcycles. Kasi kung dodoblehin pa natin,” Senator JV Ejercito said.

Land Transportation Office Chief and Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza said their office actually received an average of 8,000 motorcycle plate application a day or 600,000 a month, which is a combination of backlog and new applicants.

“In the 26-day period, humigit-kumulang 200,000 motorsiklo buwan-buwan po ang nadadagdagan,” Mendoza said.

The agency, even if given their overall needed budget for the plate production, cannot really deliver all the pending issuances, he said.

Producing all the plates, he said, would take the LTO two and a half years to deliver, provided that they would produce 8,000 new plates per day.

Mendoza said their current backlog no longer increase.

“Yung ating mga kababayang bumibili ng motorsiklo. Inaayos lang po namin ang logistical chain... Sila na muna ang priority yung current demand po,” Mendoza said.

By current demand means that the LTO is prioritizing the production of plates for motorcycles acquired in years 2023, 2022 and 2021.

An idea that 1RIDER Patry-list Representative Bonifacio Bosita immediately opposed and moved that the priority plates should start to the earliest pending batch which is year 2014 onwards.

Mendoza immediately acceded and promised to follow Bosita’s recommendation.

Meanwhile, part of the committee’s target is to come up with steps that could address crimes perpetrated by motorcycle-riding gunmen.

Senator JV Ejercito is pushing for the mandatory inclusion of RFID in all motorcycle units as a way to track down criminals using motorcycles.

“Sa tingin ko kasi dapat magkaroon muna dapat ng identity ang lahat ng motorista eh,” Ejercitio said.

“Very effective itong RFID at mas mabilis pa ang law enforcers kung nagamit sa crimes ang motorsiklo. Unlike now, parant tsamba-tsamba Mr Chair. Kasi magagaling po ang pinoy eh nakakagawa ng fake OR-CR,” Bosita said.

“Administratively hassle iyon na pupunta sa LTO, papalitan yung pangalan, yung laman noong RFID. Medyo masalimuot iyon pero if it can be done from a central office na kayo na lang ang mag-encode, pasok na doon, okay siguro iyon,” Tolentino said.

This is being supported by Tolentino who also inquired if the RFID that new vehicles possess today can also be inserted with the vehicle owner’s full information.

Bosita on the other hand is proposing to include additional information in the car plate of a vehicle user.

Bosita, a retired police officer, meanwhile quoted a report he culled then from PNP-CALABARZON which stated that in every conducted security checkpoint, only four suspected criminal elements are being discovered and apprehended in every 10,500 inspected motorcycles.

Professor Gerald Abergos, Secretary-General of the Riders Association of the Philippines meanwhile discussed what can only be included in the RFID chip.

“The sticker in the RFID, there’s a chip. Yung chip na yun, it’s not like a flash drive na andun po lahat yung memory and everything. It’s just a device para po makuha natin yung information. Para po bang password sya, para yung password nay un, in layman’s term yun po ang mapupunta sa system... Ang RFID po kasi pwede nating makuha ang data kahit hindi nati babarilin ang pinaka-sticker,” Abergos said.

CONFRONTING ANGKAS

In the same hearing, Senator Raffy Tulfo confronted the management of ride-hailing firm Angkas to dismiss its rider Aurelio Subiera who allegedly robbed and attempted to rape his passenger last November 12 in Brgy. Manggahan, Pasig City.

Tulfo grilled Angkas Public Information Officer Jauro Castro why Suberia was only suspended and no criminal charges were filed against the suspect despite the gravity of his offense.

“Bakit suspension lang? Dapat sibakin niyo!” Tulfo said.

In response, Aurelio promised to take immediate action regarding Tulfo’s recommendation.

It can be recalled that the passenger, alias “Carla,” recently complained on his program “Raffy Tulfo in Action” that Aurelio tried to molest her and only stopped upon seeing other people in the area. Before escaping from the scene of the crime, she said Aurelio snatched her mobile phone and wallet.

Angkas, according to Tulfo, gave Carla a runaround and dissuaded the victim from filing a case against the suspect.

Castro profusely apologized to Tulfo and the Senate panel, promising to address the victim’s concerns.

Tulfo, meanwhile, recommended for Angkas to conduct a regular drug testing of its drivers stressing that those under the influence of prohibited drugs are prone to committing grave offenses.

As to Senate Bill 159 or the amendment to the Motorcyle Crime Prevention Act, a technical working group has been tasked to finetune the proposed measure.