City Councilor Rey Gealon criticizes the Land Transportation Office (LTO) Central Visayas for enforcing the new memorandum circular that penalizes motorists without LTO-issued license plates, arguing that it is unfair to impose penalties due to the LTO’s backlog in production. | Screengrab from Sangguniang Panlungsod Cebu City – Secretariat
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A local legislator has criticized the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Central Visayas for its plan to enforce a memorandum that penalizes vehicles without LTO-issued license plates starting September 1.
In a privilege speech delivered before the Cebu City Council on September 4, Councilor Rey Gealon questioned the LTO of “singling out” Cebu and its motorists for apprehensions under the new guidelines. The new circular authorizes the apprehension of all motor vehicles and motorcycles using non-LTO-issued plates.
However, Gealon, also the committee chairman on transportation, argued that it would be “unjust” to penalize motorists when the LTO itself was responsible for the production delays of over 12 million license plates.
“Why is Cebu being singled out by the LTO?,” he asked.
“Why is the LTO apprehending motorists for the lack of official license plates when the fault is directly attributable to the Land Transportation Office’s failure and shortcomings?,” he added.
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Violators face penalties of up to P5,000 under Joint Administrative Order No. 2014-01.
On August 27, LTO-7 announced that it would begin apprehending vehicles without official plates. However, LTO-7 clarified that vehicles with temporary plates wouldn’t immediately receive citation tickets.
Instead, traffic enforcers would take photos of relevant documents like the sales invoice to verify if the plates had been produced.
12,548,909 backlog license plates
Gealon noted that the backlog of 12,548,909 LTO plates, as of February 2024, stems from years of delays, inefficiencies, and bureaucratic obstacles within the agency. Despite this, LTO-7 is the only region planning to strictly enforce the circular.
Gealon criticized the LTO for punishing motorists when it failed to fulfill its responsibility of producing and issuing license plates.
“The LTO should not even contemplate apprehending motorists until there is zero backlog in the license plate production,” he said.
Gealon pointed out the legal and moral implications of enforcing the memorandum without addressing the root issue.
Moreover, while LTO-7 has already deferred the implementation of the full enforcement of the circular to December 31, 2024, following backlash from Senate Majority Floor Leader Francis Tolentino, Gealon said that the LTO should not even consider apprehending motorists until the license plate production backlog is fully resolved.
“Until then, the LTO has neither the legal nor moral authority to penalize motorists for a violation caused by the government’s own failure to produce and issue license plates,” Gealon said.
He further argued that the extension is “insufficient,” and noted that LTO must eliminate the backlog before imposing any penalties on motorists.
Anti-poor policy
The councilor also highlighted the severe impact this policy could have on ordinary Filipinos, especially those who rely on motorcycles as their primary mode of transportation.
“The motorcycle is the common man’s primary mode of private transportation and, for some, their source of livelihood,” he said.
He argued that penalizing motorists, rather than dealers or the LTO itself, would be unjust and “nothing short of anti-poor.”
He called on targeting vehicle dealers instead of motorists: “Dealers should be the ones regulated, not poor motorists who rely on our legal system.”
Gealon said that by moving for the passage of a resolution that would require dealers to sell only vehicles that already had official plates from the LTO.
He also requested that a copy of his privilege speech be furnished to the LTO, urging them to implement the circular only once the backlog has been fully cleared.