I recently wrote about a project between the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and Stradcom which is providing the government agency with the means to modernize our vehicle and driver registration systems. Certainly, the LTO has improved a lot. Not only is its work done faster; registration of drivers’ licenses and vehicles has become more reliable. Fakes, for instance, are easier to detect.

The newest idea that the LTO and Stradcom are considering it the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). An RFID tag or sticker which can be read electronically is placed on every vehicle. I was under the impression (when I wrote the earlier columns) that this would mean an additional tariff that we, the motoring public, would have to pay annually.

Vince Dizon of Stradcom, who sought me out to correct my wrong impression, says that this is only a one-time expense; but, what it will do is the following:

The RFID will automate vehicle identification. There would be no more need for the stenciling that we go though each year to prove that the vehicle that we are registering is the same vehicle that was registered the year before.

The MMDA and the LTO enforcers are given the capability of automatically screening and detecting public utility vehicles for their compliance with LTO, LTFRB and MMDA vehicle regulations.

Thus, the RFID becomes a tool for the enforcers and increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the agencies that are currently dependent only on manual and visual-based inspection.

What was even more convincing was the endorsement from 16 leaders of public utility vehicle owners and drivers from as far as Zamboanga and in Metro Manila: "It is our perception that the RFID Project will greatly benefit the transport sector. Specifically on the area of law enforcement. We anticipate that once the project is fully implemented, incidence of law enforcers harassing our drivers and operators would now be reduced if not totally eliminated, thereby allowing the drivers and operators to maximize their respective earnings. In addition, we envision the RFID project to automatically detect colorum vehicles plying the road. With the above-stated benefits, we believe that the one-time cost of the RFID is reasonable enough.

"In view of the foregoing, we the transport sector leaders fully support and endorse the RFID project for its immediate implementation."

Among the signatories are: Isabelo Rubio Sr. of ZATLIP in Zamboanga City, Efren de Luna of ACTO, Mar Garvida of PTWF, Melencio "Boy" Vargas of ALTODAP, Ryan Benjamin Yu of Cebu Integrated Transport Services Cooperative, Zenaida Maranan of Fedojap and others.

So, I figure, if those most affected by the RFID can support it, then, we all should.

The RFID is an improvement over the e-pass and is already installed in several countries in one form or the other. In the US, these tags are used on license plates, passports, mass transport, inventory tracking, toll systems and so on; same as in Europe. Singapore has a system which one loads up as in prepaid phones. Then, one’s load is automatically decreased when one parks in paid parking areas – public and private, when one passes toll gates and when one uses certain roads which become toll roads depending on the time of day.

I cannot imagine why the RFID cannot also be used to control entry into subdivisions, schools and so on and why it cannot be used to pay parking fees at malls and other areas. The RFID has the possibility of speeding up traffic in these areas where one is often delayed by the collection procedure.

If every vehicle already has an RFID Tag, the annual registration process would speed up tremendously and it would also be less-prone to errors. Plus, we could eliminate those stickers that are changed yearly since, unregistered vehicles could be identified even as they enter an RFID detection area, no matter how fast these are traveling.

I am now an RFID supporter. Too bad that it took so long for Vince Dizon to find me.

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Another correction comes from St. Luke’s which, while thankful about my praises for the hospital, points out that it is not the lone hospital in the Philippines that has been certified and accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI). The other is The Medical City in Pasig.

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After having served for two years as the president of the Federation of Philippine Amateur Senor Golfers, Inc. (FPASGI), I was glad to turn over the presidency to Clyde Fernandez of Aguinaldo. Last Friday, at the Director’s Cup tournament where a lot of fabulous prizes were given out, I knew that I had done the right thing by giving in to Clyde.

That tournament, the first happening in his term, went very well. He has also lined up the venues for the regular tournaments and has even gotten sponsors who will help the FPASGI compete in the Asean Championships that will be held in Thailand this year.

The FPASGI, under Clyde Fernandez, can only further improve. I am glad to be on the board as a regular member. I have always felt that the Senior Federation should be serving the membership by allowing seniors to have fun playing their favorite game and Clyde is doing just that. In addition, he has a burning desire to do well at the only tournament where the FPASGI competes with other senior clubs – the Asean Championships.

We, at FPASGI, can only hope that our president Clyde Fernandez succeeds!

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