THE bicameral conference committee yesterday wrapped up deliberations on the disagreeing provisions of the proposed amendments to RA 11235 or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act.
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said one of the contentious issues, which requires motorcycles to have two license plates, has been removed.
“Actually, the main provision is that the ‘doble plaka’ (two license plates) will only be one,” Ejecito said in a mix of Filipino and English
He said the panel instead required motorcycles to have just one license plate due to the backlog in license plates, which he said amounts to around 9 million.
“Mas mabuti nang lahat may plaka kaysa nga dalawa na hindi naman maibigay (It is better if every motorcycle has a license plate rather than having two which cannot be met by the government). In terms of crime prevention, what is very important is for all motor vehicles, especially motorcycles, should have their plate numbers,” he added.
Sen. Francis Tolentino said the LTO committed to addressing the plate number backlog on June 30, 2026, adding the agency is having problems with distribution
Ejercito said the panel also agreed to do away with the installation of radio frequency identification stickers due to the problems in supply from the Land Transportation Office which has been “causing more delays.”
“The LTO itself said there are problems being experienced and at the same time, it said that (a) plate number alone is enough for enforcers to verify the veracity, the identification of the vehicle whether it’s a ‘hot vehicle’…That’s why we agreed to delete already the provision of the RFID,” he said.
Ejercito said fines for violations of the law were brought down to more reasonable amounts. The fines used to range from P50,000 to P100,000 which he said are even higher than the price of motorcycles.
Various motorcycle groups are opposing the “doble plaka” system, saying it compromises the safety of riders.