LTO to start issuing license plates in March 2018

By Aerol John Pateña 

MANILA -- The Land Transportation Office (LTO) will start issuing license plates by March next year, assuring motorists it will proceed with the procurement in accordance with the law.

In a statement Thursday, the LTO said it has issued a notice of award to the winning bidder in the procurement of license plates worth PHP978.8 million last December 1.

The winning bidder Trojan Computer Forms Manufacturing Corporation and J.H. Tonnjes E.A.S.T. GmbH & Co. KG Joint Venture will provide the performance security with the initial delivery of license plates scheduled sometime in March 2018.

“The LTO assures the public that the agency is doing the best it can, in compliance with existing laws and regulations, to deliver the license plates,” LTO chief and Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante said in a statement.

The delay in the issuance of license plates was caused by the temporary restraining order of the Supreme Court (SC) in June 2016 preventing the LTO and then Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC)  from distributing 700,000 license plates turned over by the Bureau of Customs after the plates' supplier-importer failed to pay the required customs duties.

The 2013 procurement of motor vehicle (MV)/ motorcycle (MC) plates, which covers the supply of license plates from ‎2014-2018, was questioned before the courts and the Commission on Audit which remains pending to date.

“Thus, when the present administration came in July 2016, there was no budget allocation for procurement of license plates for 2016, 2017 and 2018. Unconvinced that the procurement of license plates is dependent on the resolution of the cases involving the previous procurement, Asec. Galvante then requested for additional funds to be included in the LTO’s 2017 budget in the amount of PHP 400 million in order to proceed with the procurement of license plates,” the LTO said.

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade approved the request and allocated PHP1 billion from the department’s budget for LTO’s procurement of license plates in November last year.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Wednesday urged Galvante to resign over the agency's failure to release new license plates with an estimated backlog reaching 6 million. (PNA)

Survey shows Japanese women too busy to fall in love

TOKYO -- Some 60 percent of eligible women in Japan are reluctant to start a love relationship due to the growing burden at work, The Japan Times reported Saturday citing a survey at cocoloni.jp, an online dating advice service.

As women today are facing the same workload as men in Japan, the ensuing fatigue has made women more willing to lounge on a sofa and watch soap operas after work instead of going to dates, said the report.

Office love is no longer alluring and blind dates are even regarded as stressful and tedious which seldom bring satisfying results. One in four women admits having fallen asleep on a date due to tiredness caused by work, according to the survey.

Another online dating site Lovely Media says a growing number of women are quitting random dates because they think it's a "waste of time." Instead, they make pregnancy their ultimate goal, thus turning to matchmaking routes for seeking an ideal husband.

Back in the 1980s, over 60 percent of young people in their 20s in Japan were in a relationship, while today this group is in the minority, The Japan Times said.

Shorter working hours, guaranteed maternity and paternity leaves, and a less forbidding atmosphere will go a long way in getting women to think about love," it concluded. (Xinhua)