In the absence of a Supreme Court order, the LTO said the P31.5 million paid by the car owners will not be refunded.

LTO officer-in-charge Assistant Secretary Raquel Desiderio said the SC said the “RFID refund is not contemplated under the status quo ante order” it had issued earlier to stop the agency from collecting fees for the program.

“If the SC says refund is not allowed, we cannot do anything about it. Refund is not possible right now and it is out of our hands,” she said.

Desiderio added that the issue on whether or not the RFID refund will push through will only be settled by the SC.

“We will have to wait until the SC decides on the merit of the case. Only until a decision is made can we really say if there is a refund or none,” she added.

Stradcom Corporation, the information technology provider of LTO, had earlier sought clarification after being asked by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) and the LTO to conform with the government's direction to reimburse P350 RFID fee collected from at least 90,000 vehicle owners last year.

The refund of the RFID fee was initially scheduled last September but Stradcom refused to conform with the release of the reimbursement from an escrow account, claiming that it is premature given the pendency of the case at the SC.

The RFID program is a technology which uses radio frequency to identify objects such as a vehicle without human intervention. It has seen used to control traffic volume, toll payment and motor vehicle registration in other countries.

Through this technology, authorities can immediately identify if a public utility vehicle (PUV) is colorum or not and enforcers can immediately apprehend and impound the subject vehicle.

Although payments were already made for the RFID, civil society and transport groups have sought the intervention of the SC to stop the project from being pursued.

The High Tribunal issued a status quo ante order preventing further collection for the project.

Kris Bayos, Manila Bulletin