MANILA, Philippines - Transport and militant groups on Monday again launched a protest against the Land Transportation Office's (LTO) move to install tracking devices in vehicles.

Led by the group Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytors Nationwide (Piston), the protesters rallied in front of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) head office to call on the government to halt the implementation of the Radio Frequency Identification or RFID scheme.

"This is a burden to motorists," said Piston secretary-general George San Mateo.

San Mateo's group, along with the Gabriela and Anakpawis organizations, questioned the implementation of the RFID, arguing that petitions against it are still pending before the Supreme Court.

They urged the high tribunal to intervene and issue a temporary restraining order against the new vehicle scheme.

RFID is a monitoring system that uses non-transferable electronic tags to identify vehicles, their registration details, make and color. The tags, which are scanner readable, are said to be helpful in identifying stolen and unregistered or “colorum” vehicles.

The program is expected to give the LTO P2 billion in revenues, funds that the transport and militant groups suspect would be used for the upcoming national elections.

Earlier, the groups said the RFID scheme would violate vehicle owners' right to privacy. They also claimed that the scheme would be used by the government to spy on organizations "perceived as left-leaning." With a report from Alvin Elchico, ABS-CBN News