Only the Land Transportation Office and LTO-deputized agencies, offices, and personnel of the local government unit can confiscate license plates.
Krystel Grace Sanchez, a representative of LTO-Cordillera, said the City Government of Baguio may request for the deputation of its traffic enforcers from the LTO.
As a requisite to their deputation, the local government personnel must undergo a seminar.
Sanchez said so far, only the Philippine National Police, the Highway Patrol Group, and some local government personnel in other LGUs have undergone deputation by the LTO.
Taking a cue from Sanchez, the Baguio City Council passed a resolution urging the City Engineering Office-Traffic and Transport Management Division (CEO-TTMD) and the Traffic Enforcement unit-Baguio City Police Office (TEU-BCPO) to request for the deputation of the city’s traffic enforcers from LTO-Cordillera and to undergo the required seminar.
Councilor Peter Fianza warned the TTMD and BCPO to be more cautious in confiscating license plates so as not to overstep their authority.
Fianza said there is a need to review the ordinances, “improve” them, and provide justification on the power of local enforcers to remove and confiscate license plates as vested by the LTO in compliance with the requirements for deputation.
Councilor Jose Molintas said the TTMD personnel and police officers need to be re-oriented on local and national laws allowing them to confiscate the license plates and driver’s licenses of motorists violating transportation and traffic laws.
Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan tasked the City Legal Office to find out what ordinances and national laws require the confiscation of license plates by local government personnel and police officers to guide the enforcers in their operation.
Maj. Zacarias Caloy Dausen of the TEU-BCPO said of the 2,166 confiscated license plates since 2010, only around 50 had been claimed by the owners within the three-month amnesty period.
Through the amnesty which was enacted through an ordinance, the fines for violators had been reduced to P200 to encourage them to claim their license plates. – Jordan G. Habbiling
April 19, 2024
