PHOTO: LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II entertains the questions of the media on the sidelines of the Palace Briefing on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (Photo courtesy of TCSP)
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Tuesday announced a crackdown on car and motor dealers who fail to meet deadlines in a move to address long wait times for car plates and registrations.
In a Palace Briefing, LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II said that their agency issued over a hundred show cause orders to dealers requiring them to explain why they haven’t delivered plates to motorists.
“We will continue to discipline our ranks, including those LTO who will not comply with the five-day requirement,” Mendoza said.
“Our commitment to our dealers is, when you submit your documents to us, within five days, we need to release the plate, ORCR, and RFID,” he added.
Mendoza’s announcement comes amidst public frustration over delays in receiving car plates and plastic driving license cards, which can sometimes take months.
In the same briefing, Mendoza said the LTO will reduce the 11-million license plate backlog by at least 50 percent by the end of 2024.
“By June 2025, we would have finished the backlog as far as motorcycles are concerned. Ang kagandahan dito, side by side with addressing the backlog, we are addressing the current demand,” he said.
Mendoza added that all motor vehicles purchased in 2022, 2023, and 2024 should have their plates by 1 July. The LTO also aims to replace all old green plates with black and white plates by the end of the year.
The only challenge, according to Mendoza, is the backlog of motorcycle plates which has reached 11 million. However, he assured that the LTO has a program to address this backlog. (TCSP)
