Senator Francis Tolentino
CEBU CITY, Philippines—To ease the backlog in the distribution of motorcycle plates, Senator Francis Tolentino is pushing to amend Republic Act No. 11235, or the Doble Plaka Law.
The “Doble Plaka Law” requires motorcycles to install front number plates in addition to the back number plates, and they must be bigger and readable within 15 meters.
Tolentino, who visited Daanbantayan, Cebu, on Friday afternoon, August 30, to participate in the celebration of the Haladaya Festival, said his amendment aims to reduce the backlog of plate production by allowing motorcycle owners to install only one number plate.
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Currently, he said that the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has a backlog of more than 11 million motorcycle number plates.
“Yung LTO hindi makagawa ng dalawang plaka, kaya para dumali yung trabaho nila, 11 million yung backlog nila, isang plaka nalang sa likod para mahabol nila ang backlog nila. Kapag hinati muna yung, 5.5 million nalang yun,” Tolentino said.
Under the Senate Bill No. 2555 which was authored by Tolentino, instead of installing another plate in front of the motorcycle, the measure proposed to only install a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).
The said bill was already passed in the third and final reading on July 29, 2024. However, they are still waiting for its counterpart bill in the House of Representatives.
Earlier, the senator called out the LTO in Central Visayas over its plan to apprehend motorcycles using improvised plates starting tomorrow, September 1, 2024.
Tolentino said that he could not comprehend the logic of the directive when the agency itself had yet to resolve its backlog in the issuance of millions of plates.
The backlog has been a major problem in the country in years with various measures put in place to address the issue.