To address the high volume of vehicles on EDSA, the Philippine National Police–Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) will begin verifying whether green-plated vehicles using the thoroughfare are genuinely equipped with electrified powertrains.
Per Republic Act No. 11697 or the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act, hybrid and electric vehicles are exempt from the number-coding scheme until 2030. These vehicles are identified by green-colored license plates, but it looks like the PNP-HPG has reason to believe that a significant number of these plates are fraudulent, thereby contributing to the traffic on EDSA.
To verify the legitimacy of these green plates, the PNP-HPG will be inspecting each vehicle’s certification from the Department of Energy. It is unclear what this certification looks like, as no such document currently exists. The DOE does regularly publish and update an official list of recognized hybrid and electric vehicles on its website, but the agency doesn’t provide a stamped certificate.
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The Land Transportation Office identifies hybrid and electric vehicles through their homologation papers, and then issues green plates, but the PNP-HPG is looking to the Energy department for official verification.
The DOE has yet to explain how exactly this certification will be processed and issued to vehicle owners. At the same time, the PNP-HPG has also not shared how its inspection operations will be carried out.
Watch this space for the latest updates.
