LTO chief eyes deadline to speed up license plate distribution

Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor Mendoza II talked to various stakeholders in Cebu during his visit last March 6./Contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor D. Mendoza II aims to set a clear timeframe for dealers to hand over motor vehicle and motorcycle plates to owners after receiving them.

He expressed this plan during a meeting with stakeholders in Cebu on March 6, where LTO-7 Director Glen Galario was also present.

“Yung [Our] steps moving forward so we can address yung pagbibigay ng plaka ng mas mabilis [the releasing the plates quickly], yung lisensya [the licenses], yung timeline natin dito [our timeline here], so we can plan already. So when the supplies come in ay handa naman tayo [we are already prepared],” Mendoza said.

Mendoza emphasized the need for dealers in Cebu to adhere to a specific timeline for plate release, mirroring his discussions with dealers in Manila.

“I’m also here to give these dealers a timeline within which to distribute the plates,” Mendoza told the stakeholders in Cebu.

He proposes implementing a 72-hour or three working day deadline for dealerships to fulfill this obligation.

“Kasi ang plaka nanjan na eh [The plates are available]. But either they will help us or they will not help us. If they will not help us, I want a direct answer. But I want those plates distributed within 72 hours or 3 working days from the time it’s given to them [dealers],” he said as quoted.

‘Passport style’ system

Moreover, Mendoza also proposed a voluntary “passport-style” system for releasing unclaimed plates in the future.

“We want it to be easy for them and so we would like to adopt the passport-style [process] wherein if they agree we can just send the plates to them in their given addresses. Para kang [It’s like] when they order online, they will have to shoulder the cost of the delivery. So they pay directly to the courier,” he said.

He also said that the LTO aims to resolve issues with driver’s license cards within this month.

“We are targeting this month of March as the turnaround point from zero licenses, hopefully, yung problema natin sa korte, were targeting maayos na yun [we are targeting that our problem in court will be fixed,]” he added.

The Quezon Regional Trial Court issued a preliminary injunction against the government’s procurement of plastic license cards which resulted in a temporary halt of the agency’s procurement in October 2023. Mendoza revealed that the LTO’s current backlog of undelivered driver’s license cards nationwide stands at around 3.3 million.

In line with the LTO-7’s efforts to release unclaimed license plates, Mendoza’s plan to set a deadline aligns with their campaign. Galario stated that over 100,000 license plates have been released from LTO-7’s storage facility in Talisay City, Cebu, in the past six months.

“We welcome this move from our LTO Chief as we continue to push for the release of these unclaimed license plates,” Galario said.

In addition to dealers, LTO offices are now required to release available license plates by the same deadline as part of Mendoza’s directive. /clorenciana

ALSO READ:

LTO-7 urges vehicle owners: Get your unclaimed license plates now

LTO-7 starts ‘Oplan Bigay Plaka’ campaign

LTO-7 has new assistant regional director, updates for vehicle plates distribution