THE Land Transportation Office denied on Monday that it had been negligent in the release of license plates for newly registered vehicles.
“To us, all registrations have been issued plates. I think even if you talk to (car) dealers, they tell you that once they file the applications, within seven days, they could already get their official receipts, certificate of registration and plate,” LTO chief Alfonso Tan Jr. said in a television interview.
“The plates are always available and our registration processing is fast,” Tan said in reaction to mounting crticism against the LTO’s no-plate no-travel policy that was implemented on April 1.
Tan said auto dealers could also be blamed for the delay in the submission of applications for registration of plates of vehicles bought from them. “At that point in time that one has bought a car, one should have asked the dealer if the registration is ready,” he said.
According to Tan, dealers must not use as an alibi the lack of certificate of stock report from car importers and manufacturers.
Under the new LTO policy, owner of the unregistered vehicle will be fined with P10,000.A separate P1,000 fine will also be meted out to those who will be caught driving the unregistered vehicle.
If the car owner or driver will be able to present a Certificate of Registration and an Official Receipt (OR) to prove that the vehicle is duly registered, he will still be fined of P5,000 for failure toattach the vehicle’s plate.