CALOOCAN CITY, (PIA) –The Land Transportation Office (LTO) reminded the public on the unauthorized use of commemorative license plates in their motor vehicles or risk being meted with fines and other penalties.

In a statement, LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Jose Arturo “Jay Art” Tugade said the LTO has not recommended any form of commemorative license plates in either private or public vehicles, and encouraged the public to remove them if they are still using it. The unauthorized commemorative plates, he said, should no longer be displayed in any motor vehicle.

“The current administration of the LTO has not recommended commemorative license plates to be issued to motor vehicle owners, thus its use is therefore prohibited. If vehicle owners are caught by law enforcers still using commemorative plates whose effectivity dates have already expired, they will be apprehended and fined,” Tugade said.

Under DOTC Joint Administrative Circular No. 2014-01, operating a motor vehicle with an unauthorized license plate will result to a fine of P5,000 on the motor vehicle owner and confiscation of the unauthorized plate.

He also reminded the public that commemorative license plates should not be used to intimidate traffic enforcers and stop them from making apprehensions for traffic violations.

Commemorative license plates are those whose use is limited to the observance and/or commemoration of events that bear national significance, and with a validity of only one year as approved by the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

The issue came about after a Facebook group page called “Philippine National Police Academy – Justice, Integrity, Service” posted a public advisory with photo of a motor vehicle bearing a commemorative license plate bearing the letters “PNPA,” seemingly referring to the Philippine National Police Academy, that was supposedly shared with the group by a concerned citizen.

The administrators of the Facebook page warned the public of the presence of “unscrupulous people that are neither directly connected to nor a graduate of PNPA using commemorative plates, badges, emblems and stickers that are violative of traffic and other laws, something which we cannot tolerate,” the group said in its advisory.

The present LTO administration did not recommend the approval of any commemorative license plate that bears the letters "PNPA" and no such license plate was approved by the DOTr and endorsed to the LTO. (lto/pia-ncr)