I was on the way to our other office yesterday when I made a right turn to Meralco Ave from Ortigas Ave when a uniformed police officer flagged me down.

He then greeted me and asked me for the papers of my commemorative plate. When I produced it, he pointed out that I did not fill-up the paper and that the expiry date shown at the back was May 16, 2005. I then countered that the date in the commemorative sticker shows May 28, 2005. He then asked for my license and informed me that my vehicle would be impounded at Crame.

I then said if he could just ticket me since the penalty for an expired commemorative plate is just P300. But he said that they aren't issuing tickets at the moment and that is their order right now. I would follow a convoy of other apprehended vehicles going to Crame.

After a while, another police officer rode shotgun with me. So I began asking him some questions. It turns out that my car would be just taken to Crame to verify my papers - and not to be automatically be impounded. He also expressed dismay on how the other apprehended motorists were trying to wiggle out... some samples:

- Black Expedition driven by a chinita. No plates. When the papers was produced, the plate number indicated in the deed of sale & registration is mismatched. Allegedly, the LTO confiscated the plates & they are awaiting for a replacement. The girl is stating that her father was a general.

- Another lady driver with expired commemorative plates. Problem is that she also doesn't have a driver's license. The funny thing was that, she "borrowed" the mobile phone of another apprehended motorist to call / text her contacts and is refusing to give it back to the owner.

The police officer also said that he too was frustrated by the public's perception about them and that this is the things that they are doing to clean-up their image.

When I arrived in Crame, they gave my papers to their Colonel. He gave it a look then I said that there was a mismatch in the expiration dates indicated in the sticker & the papers. He then said to another officer to just "let me go" since it was just a 3 day difference.

By the way... here's the list of valid commemorative plates indicated in their memo.



Was a good experience actually. The other police officers were even joking with me that at least I got to visit Crame. Took around 30 minutes of my time. Though there were a lot of brand new vehicles impounded there in the grandstand.