DOTC chief urged to rethink RFID vehicle tagging scheme

MANILA, Philippines - Two lawmakers yesterday urged Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas to reconsider his agency’s plan to revive the controversial radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging of public utility vehicles (PUVs).

“There is a need to carefully study this plan considering that transport groups are divided on it. There is also the distinct possibility that its cost, which would amount to billions, would be passed on to the public,” Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said.

He said the RFID tagging plan was aborted during the Arroyo administration because of strong opposition from motor vehicle owners.

He recalled that before the plan was aborted, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) had started requiring each vehicle owner to pay P350 for an RFID sticker on top of his annual registration fees.

The RFID vehicle tagging is now being revived as a substitute to the paint-marking scheme of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on PUVs.

The paint-marking scheme and the RFID tagging plan are designed to eliminate illegal PUVs, particularly passenger buses and violators of the MMDA’s number coding program.

Rodriguez and his brother Maximo, who represents the party-list group Abante Mindanao, have filed Resolution 2254, urging the House committee on Metro Manila Development chaired by San Juan City Rep. Joseph Victor Ejercito to look into the RFID vehicle tagging scheme.