The Land Transportation Office on Thursday started distributing license plates to car owners and dealers nationwide of motor vehicles registered in July 2016.
Vehicle owners may claim their plates at the Authorized District Office (ADO) or through their respective dealers.
“Today, we will start the release of the plates nationwide for vehicles registered in July 2016,” LTO chief Assistant Secretary Ed Galvante said in a statement.
Plates registered for the succeeding months of 2016 will be circulated in batches to the regional offices of LTO for distribution to district offices, which will then release them to vehicle owners.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said that the problem on the lack of vehicle plates will be resolved at the soonest time possible.
“Itong problema na ito ay matagal na inireklamo at idinaing ng mga kababayan natin. Sino ba naman ang matutuwa na nagbabayad ka ng tama tapos aabutin ng siyam-siyam bago makuha ang plaka. Kaya tulad ng ipinangako ng ating Pangulo, heto ho, inayos namin, heto ho, may plaka na kayo (Our countrymen have complained about this for such a long time. Would you be pleased if you have paid for it yet you have to wait that long before you get your license plate? Just as the President promised, we have resolved this; we are now issuing plates),” Tugade said.
“Unti-unti po nating aayusin ang mga problema. Magtiwala lang po kayo sa amin lalo’t nagsisipag ng husto ang mga ahensya sa ilalim ng DOTr para guminhawa ang buhay natin. Utos po iyan ni Presidente Duterte kaya sisikapin nating matupad at masolusyunan (We are now taking steps to address these problems. Just put your trust and the agencies under DOTr will do everything to ensure convenience to everyone. That is the directive of President Duterte that is why we are committed to implementing it),” he added.
The LTO inaugurated its own plate-making plant last April 24 in Quezon City. The seven manual embossing machines of the LTO can produce at least 22,400 license plates daily.
As of July 4, 2018, the plate-making facility has produced a total of 231,332 pairs of motor vehicle plates, enough to cover the July to December 2016 requirements.
The license plate backlog from January 2015 to December 2017 reached 8.2 million. The new machines are expected to produce 3.4 million plates pending since July 2016.
Meanwhile, there are 4.8 million license plates for vehicles purchased from January 2015 to June 2016 under a PHP3.8-billion contract, which is still subject to a Notice of Disallowance by the Commission on Audit.
The LTO is still awaiting the COA resolution on the disallowance.