Gov’t still can’t clear car plate backlog

INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines — Even after several years, it seems motorists will still have to bear with the shortage of car plates with Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Teofilo Guadiz III saying the agency would not be able to clear the huge backlog even in 2023.

Guadiz said the Department of Budget and Management approved only P4.7 billion out of the P6.8 billion needed to clear the backlog that has been piling up since the Aquino administration, or nearly 10 years ago.

Guadiz said that the P4.7 billion was only enough to clear 90 percent of the backlog. To date, he disclosed that the backlog for motor vehicle replacements or those with green characters on a white background — which will be transitioned to the black ones with white background — is around 2.3 million pairs.

For motorcycles, the backlog was around 11.5 million, Guadiz added.

From May to October this year, over 300,000 pairs of replacement plates have been produced. For newly registered vehicles, there was no backlog in the production of license plates, he pointed out.

The LTO has two robots that produce license plates — one for motorcycles and the other for other types of motor vehicles. There are also about 10 manual embossing machines.

“[W]e have already extended the operating hours of the LTO license plate manufacturing plant,” Guadiz said.

—DEMPSEY REYES

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