■ MOTORISTS TO GET NEW LICENSE PLATES IN MARCH

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) will release new vehicle plate numbers in Cebu next year. LTO 7 Director Alita Pulga said that the Duterte administration has decided to manufacture new plate numbers without waiting for the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision on the plate numbers contracted by the previous administration.

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade has allocated P1 billion from the agency’s budget for this purpose in November 2016 yet. Last Dec. 1, a notice of award was issued to the joint venture of Trojan Computer Forms Manufacturing Corp. and JH Tonnjes E.A.S.T. GmbgH Company, which submitted an offer of P978.8 million.

“The initial delivery and distribution of plate numbers) will be in March 2018 (or more than two months from now),” Pulga said. She said the new plate numbers will cover all motor vehicles registered with LTO from July 2016 to December 2017, or 60,251 for motor vehicles and 158,598 for motorcycles.

The previous administration bought plate numbers from abroad, but the contractor did not pay duties and taxes to the Bureau of Customs (BOC). She said that the BOC forfeited the plate numbers in favor of the government and conducted a public bidding in favor of LTO.

The LTO started to distribute the plate numbers, but the SC issued a temporary restraining order (TRO). In Region 7, 2,322 plates for motor vehicles and 15,002 for motorcycles were held because of the TRO.