LTO distributes motorcycle plates via barangays

Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has completed the distribution of vehicle plates to more than 24,000 passenger tricycles in Quezon City by tapping the city’s barangays as a distribution network.

LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II, along with Mayor Joy Belmonte and Vice Mayor Gian Sotto, led the distribution of the remaining license plates that duly franchised tricycle operators have been waiting for years already.

READ: LTO told to address motorcycle license plate backlog by June 2025

Mendoza said that since all the passenger tricycles in Quezon City now have license plates, it will be easier to distinguish them from their “colorum” counterparts.

He said the LTO would replicate the license plate distribution for motorcycles down to the barangays across the country in the coming days.

READ: LTO now producing one million license plates a month

“The LTO will go down to the barangays across the country to distribute the license plates for motorcycles, most especially tricycles because these are being used as a source of livelihood for many of our countrymen. This is an order from the President, and the LTO will obey this,” Mendoza said.

When the Marcos administration started in July 2022, Mendoza said the LTO had a 12.5-million backlog in license plates—9.1 million for motorcycles, and 3.4 million for four-wheel vehicles.

The LTO started producing 1 million plates every month in late 2023, which resulted in the LTO addressing the issue of license plates of four-wheel vehicles at the start of this year.

“We have no more backlog for license plates of four-wheel vehicles. And President Marcos ordered us to finish the backlog for motorcycle license plates by June 2025. And we are on the right track in doing this,” Mendoza added. —Dexter Cabalza