House OKs bill mandating bigger license plates for motorcycles

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on third and final reading the bill which mandates the use of bigger license plates and identification marks on motorcycles to prevent the use of the vehicles in committing crimes.

Voting 219 in the affirmative and zero in the negative, the chamber approved House Bill 8419, which mandates the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to issue a bigger license plate for every motorcycle, with alpha-numeric characters in large and readable font from a distance of at least 12 meters.

The LTO is also authorized to maintain a registry of motorcycles in a database to allow the retrieval of information for official investigation and law enforcement.

Motorcycle owners are likewise required to report the sale or disposition of the motorcycle to the LTO nearest to their residence within five days.

Owners who do not report the sale or disposition of their motorcycle will be slapped with a fine of not less than P5,000 but not more than P20,000.

Riders who do not have a bigger number plate will be meted a fine of P5,000 for the first offense, P10,000 for the second offense, and P15,000 and revocation of driver's license on the third offense.

The LTO is directed to release bigger plates within six months upon renewal of the registration by motorcycle owners with number plates not following the provisions of the measure.

A one-year transition period will be provided to allow the production of bigger license plates and replacing of existing number plates of motorcycles. — BM, GMA News