POE: END 'PLATELESS' ERA FAST

Following the Supreme Court's lifting of its TRO on car plates, the government should now "end the plateless era in a fast and furious manner," Sen. Grace Poe said today.

"I would like to echo what millions of owners of vehicles with temporary, handwritten license plates want government to do: Please step on the gas," she said.

"They have long paid for these plates. It is time to deliver them," Poe said, noting "that the delay in the issuance is now as long as the period World War II was fought in the Philippines."

"Mahirap tanggapin ang paliwanag na aabutin ng kalahating dekada ang pag-isyu ng wala pang isang kilong bigat na plaka kung wala pang isang linggo ang tagal ng pag-assemble ng dalawang toneladang sasakyan," Poe said.

The senator said that while "a myriad of legal and budgeting concerns must be threshed out" to restart the plate procurement process, "perhaps other legal ways can be explored to fasttrack the delivery of these plates."

"Yung the usual dahilan kung bakit delayed ang plaka ay parang sirang plaka na ating naririnig," Poe said.

The senator noted that the car and motorcycle plates covered by the injunction, "even if they are fully released will hardly make a dent on the demand."

"There were two million motorcycles sold over the past two years. Car sales from 2016 to 2017 totalled almost 800,000. Hindi pa kasama yung mga luma, kasi lahat ay covered by that ill-advised plate replacement program," Poe said.

Government, she said, must provide the public a roadmap, with timetables, on the plate delivery. "Parang Waze ng plate program--ano ang scheduled date of arrival, at ano ang ruta," Poe cited.