Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres Sunday announced that the refund of fees collected for the botched radio frequency identification (RFID) project has gained support from the Commission on Audit (CoA).

In an interview aired over Pintig Balita at radio DZMM, Torres disclosed receiving a letter from CoA, giving the LTO a go signal for the refund of P31 million in RFID fees generate from some 90,000 vehicle owners earlier this year.

“With the approval of the Supreme Court, CoA and Department of Transportation and Communication, we're now drafting the ways by which the refund will be most conveniently done,” Torres said. But despite the LTO’s direction, some transport groups have renewed their calls to the agency to reconsidering implementing the technology aimed at curbing operation of colorum vehicles.

The RFID is a technology which uses radio frequency to identify objects such as a vehicle without human intervention. It has been 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 them.

Leaders of Pasang Masda and the Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations (ACTO) have reiterated their support to the RFID saying that the technology is the most effective solution to colorum.

Obet Martin, president of Pasang Masda, expressed his full support for the RFID project, saying that after 30 years of being in the transport sector and trying to fight colorum operators, he now sees a solution in the horizon through RFID. “In my long years at the transport sector, it's only in the RFID that I see the solution to the perennial problem of colorum," he said, even volunteering their group to host the pilot testing of the RFID implementation.

ACTO president Efren de Luna said that RFID is the only solution that they can see that can truly eradicate colorum vehicles. He said that many solutions have been tried in the past and none of them worked. “We have tried a lot of solutions but none of them worked. We hope the government heeds our call and realize that the RFID is our only hope to end the operation of colorum vehicles,” de Luna said. The RFID project was set to be launched last year but some militant groups such as Bayan Muna and Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operaytors Nationwide, manifested their opposition and sought for a temporary restraining order (TRO) at the Supreme Court.