EDITORIAL - Easy to fake

How easy is it to produce fake license plates in this country? Authorities may have a chance to find out, after filing criminal charges against the incorporators of a firm that owns a sport utility vehicle used by former chief justice Renato Corona. Watching the live TV coverage of Corona’s impeachment trial last May 22, Cebu businessman Bonifacio Gomez noticed that the black Chevrolet Suburban SUV in Corona’s security convoy bore the same license plates, ZEE 868, as his company’s vehicle, a Mitsubishi L300 bought in 2006.

Only one of the two sets of plates could be legitimate, and it turned out to be Gomez’s. Seven incorporators of the company that owns the bulletproof Suburban, Viking Haulers Inc., are facing charges of unlawful transfer of a plate number, failure to register its importation in 2009, and failure to register it with the Land Transportation Office.

It’s not the first time that charges involving fake license plates have been filed. License plates in this country bear no special security markings and are notoriously easy to counterfeit. One can have special plates made in several not-so-clandestine establishments in Caloocan City, with fake vehicle registration papers to match. The ease by which fake license plates and corresponding vehicle registration papers can be obtained is one of the reasons why carjacking and vehicle smuggling continue to flourish.

The Viking incorporators led by Reynaldo Pazcoguin will have their day in court. If the case against them turns out to be true, it should give authorities an idea of the extent of the illegal activity, and lead to an effective response.

The LTO can issue license plates that are harder to fake, but this may be too much to ask of an agency that cannot even issue a complete set of vehicle registration stickers. The Department of Transportation and Communications can take another look at a proposal to etch plate numbers on vehicle windshields. In rare cases when a windshield is damaged, it can be replaced only after clearance is secured from the Highway Patrol Group.

A problem is that personnel of the HPG and LTO themselves have been implicated in carjacking and illegal trading in vehicles and auto parts. But surely the two agencies also have honest and dedicated personnel. The case of the Suburban used by Corona should help improve the campaign against vehicle-related crimes.