The continuing word war between House Speaker Prospero Nograles and Alberto Suansing, chief of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), over the use, or misuse, of protocol plates is one of those unusual disputes where both sides are actually right. Suansing has accused congressmen of abusing the privilege of using vehicle plates with the number “8” by violating traffic rules. Nograles has responded by challenging Suansing to enforce the law.

The feud started when Suansing told newsmen he was requesting leaders of the House of Representative to recall the low-numbered plates issued to congressmen which don’t carry the names of their provinces and districts. Suansing said there was a public clamor for the recall of the “8” plates, especially in Metro Manila where drivers of vehicles with low-numbered plates often ignore traffic rules. He added that the LTO wanted to issue new plates that would include the districts represented by each congressman so that they could apprehend traffic violators more easily.

The announcement didn’t sit well with Nograles who felt that members of the House were unfairly maligned by Suansing. Nograles said the LTO didn’t need his permission to crack down on abusive drivers of vehicles sporting protocol plates. Anyone who violates traffic rules should be apprehended no matter what plate number the vehicle bears, he said. “We only have one law and that applies to all.”

Both are right, of course. Rare and very fortunate is the motorist in Metro Manila who has not witnessed drivers of some low-numbered vehicles—SUVs mostly—weaving from lane to lane, beating red lights, going against the flow of traffic and otherwise bullying plain citizens who also want to get to their destinations on time. But Nograles has every reason to ask why House members are being singled out by Suansing. The fact is that abuse of the privilege is not limited to lawmakers. Cabinet members and other top officials are driven around just as recklessly—and with a convoy of boorish and arrogant security escorts to boot, with their flashing headlights and wailing sirens.

And what makes Suansing think law enforcement would improve by changing the congressmen’s protocol plates to incorporate their districts (or sectors)? What difference will it make if a traffic enforcer or LTO officer knows that a vehicle belongs to congressman from Marikina City or from Marinduque province? A timid or fawning traffic officer who is petrified by the number “8” plate surely cannot be expected to feel any bolder or more conscious of his responsibilities just because he knows where a congressman comes from.

But that’s the sad reality: Law enforcers more often than not feel inadequate or helpless in the face of powerful officials. Which is the reason public sympathy is with Suansing. He is standing up to people with the power to cripple his office by cutting its budget to the bone and the influence to get him booted out office. But people will respect him more if he stands his ground and does what Nograles is daring him to do, which is to enforce the law. And that means not only going after erring drivers of congressmen and their families and friends but more importantly ridding his own backyard of fixers, stamping out graft and corruption (which has turned the drug tests for drivers and the smoke emission tests for vehicles into farcical exercises), and stopping the registration of smuggled vehicles.

All these anomalies in the LTO, Nograles has threatened to investigate, and he should proceed to do so as soon as possible. At the same time, Congress should review the use of the “8” and other low numbers on vehicle plates of top officials. If these are not meant to confer special privileges on their users, if they are not supposed to serve as instruments of intimidation, what purpose do they serve? Why do the congressmen insist on keeping them? Do they have to announce to anyone who cares to look that they occupy positions of power and influence and therefore they are different from the rest of us. Is it all vanity?

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has filed a bill outlawing low-numbered plates. Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has proposed a similar measure. Congress can put the controversy to rest by enacting it into law.