Dizon notes that the problem today with colorum vehicles is that the franchising system is still manual and paper-based. There are two common problems that exist with such a system -- income lost by PUV drivers, and bribery practiced by some law enforcers or more commonly known as "kotong."

"There are income losses by some PUV drivers because illegal or colorum vehicles are technically stealing their passengers," Dizon says. "Bribery, however, mostly happens when a jeepney driver is flagged down by a law enforcer to check its franchise and would say it is fake though it isn't. To avoid conflict, the jeepney driver would just give money."

Dizon says to address the two common problems with colorum and bribes, there is a need to have a tamper-proof, accurate, permanent, and electronic way of identifying vehicles.

"The RFID tag will contain information details about PUVs, including the franchise and the route. Other options considered are the usage of smart plate or E-plate, but the advantage of RFID is that it can't be moved from one car to another," he says, adding if the sticker is taken out, the microchip would automatically be damaged, a feature that makes the system tamper-proof.

CLAMOR VS. RFID