CEBUANO legislators have no problem letting go of their special protocol license plates which were ordered recalled by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez following reports that some vehicles marked with “8” were seen parked outside sleazy places.
“Don’t care whether or not we can have a no. 8 plate. Was issued one so I used it. Have no problem to not using it anymore,” Cebu City north district Rep. Raul Del Mar said in a text message sent to CEBU DAILY NEWS.
Alvarez earlier launched a crackdown on the abuse of the special plates, which were issued during the 16th Congress and earlier, in the heels of reports that some were spotted in indecent places or figured in crime-related activities.
Del Mar said that a simple solution to cracking down on abusers would be for Alvarez to advise the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to stop issuing special plates since members of the 17th Congress were not given new special plates.
For his part, Cebu fourth district Rep. Benhur Salimbangon said that removing the plates was not a problem to him since the special plates were only more applicable in Manila to be exempt from the traffic color coding scheme implemented there.
Alvarez issued a memorandum recalling the special plates last Aug. 24.
The memorandum was issued 11 days after four vehicles- a Ford Expedition, a Hyundai Starex, a Jaguar, and a Toyota Avanza- with special congressional plates were spotted parked at a cybersex den in Pasay City during an operation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
House of Representatives Secretary General Cesar Pareja could not say how many license plates had to be recalled or who among the lawmakers owned the vehicles.
At present, retired or inactive lawmakers and their staff have not been compelled to turn in their old protocol plates.
The move was meant to ensure that only legitimate representatives would use these low-numbered plates.
Rep. Peter John Calderon of the newly created 7th district of Cebu welcomed the move of Alvarez because it will help determine fake plates that are possibly being used by some people, he said.
Calderon added that this would also send a message to everyone that “protocol plates should not be used to abuse”.
Cebu second district Rep. Wilfredo Caminero also welcomed the move of the House Speaker but said that without the special plates, it might also be hard to track down officials involved in any illegal activities.
Following the recall order, Alvarez would continue to issue a fresh batch of number “8” plates to members of the 17th Congress.
But Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco questioned why Alvarez’s order covered only vehicles issued in the previous Congress.
“We should include 17th Congress. We don’t need ‘8’ plate to serve our constituents. If they are really serious about this, they should pass my bill banning the ‘8’ plate to punish those would use this,” Tiangco said.