I don't know if modifying plate numbers are against the law, i saw some sports car that had their license plates painted from the old white/green to white/black and didn't paint the footer (Philippines 2000).

Is it against the law to "modify" your plates? even if you're just going to modify the footer of the plate and not the numbers/letters? because i heard some of my friends wanting to "personalize" the footer of the plate by placing their names or something.