SAN FRANCISCO, California (The Adobo Chronicles) – Company vehicles like those of television stations, hotels, airport shuttles or even Google are marked with painted logos or personalized (vanity) licensed plates.  Even The Adobo Chronicles  has its special license plate, ‘My Adobo’ on its company car used to transport its reporters covering events and breaking news.

While anyone in California can pay extra money to get a less boring personalized vehicle license plate, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) employs a three-person license plate police team that monitors, approves or cancels vanity license plates that may  be offensive, racist or insensitive.

Last month, the DMV cancelled the license plate of a Southern California driver after grasping its double meaning: ‘NOT SEE.’ The other meaning was, of course, anti-Semitic.

The three-person team, which reviewed more than 100,000 orders for vanity  plates last year, rejects about 25 applications a day — requests like “BUBEEEE,” “BURN 01” and “M16 GRL” that run afoul of prohibitions on references to guns, drugs and certain body parts.

Today, The Adobo Chronicles  received a demand letter from DMV asking us to surrender our license plate, ‘My Adobo.’

The letter didn’t exactly say what was offensive about our special license plate, but when we called DMV, they said our license plate was offensive to many non-Filipinos who are vegetarian, vegan or who are allergic to the smell of garlic and vinegar.  Adobo is the Philippines’ national dish consisting of chicken or pork that’s simmered in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar and garlic.

As a law-abiding company based in the California, we absolutely want to adhere to government regulations and decisions, so we are asking our loyal readers and followers to suggest a new license plate that will be less offensive to non-Filipinos in America.