Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina officially turned over 300,000 pairs of abandoned motor vehicle plates to Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Roberto Cabrera last week.
In March the license plates, contained in 11 container vans, were placed under Bureau of Customs (BOC) custody. They were declared abandoned, and had thus become government property, due to non-payment of P40 million in duties and taxes by the supplier, joint venture Power Plates Development Concepts Inc. and J. Knieriem BV-Goes.
The BOC initially planned to auction the abandoned plates but Lina said this could not be done because of security reasons. The plates have high security features which could be used to harmful use by criminal elements.
Cabrera said LTO is now working on documentation to release the plates, noting this might take 15-30 days.
