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Beep-beep: The P2-billion question for LTO: Asan na plate number ko?
By DINO RAY V. DIRECTO III
A year after buying a brand new car from a dealer along Quezon Avenue, Christie, a 44-year old businesswoman from an upscale community in Quezon City is still frustrated that the license plates for her SUV have not yet been issued.
“Its taking so long, and the funny thing is, the LTO branch informed that they will issue a temporary receipt stating that there are no license plates available just yet, and I am required to pay P450.00 for the new plates, which I am supposed to receive 45 days after registration,” she says in frustration.
Because motorists across the Philippines are going through the same hassle, Christie is not alone in her frustration.
Despite the backlog in the issuance of license plates, a Land Transportation Office insider told Beep-beep that the agency made P2 billion in revenues from collecting P450.00 as part and parcel of the registration fees since January this year.
When Christie registered her car last January, she was told that her plates will be issued in 45 days.
“It's now middle of March and I was told that there are no plates available just yet,” she says.
Our LTO insider has revealed that plates ending in “1” are already available in LTO branches nationwide. As to when the plates ending in “2” up to 9” are still a big question mark.
What is the problem?
“It’s their fault, because the supplier initially… supplied us with defective plates,” the insider said. “So now, the people are suffering...” he added.
The luminous paint on the defective plates supposedly were getting stripped – nababakbak.
From plates to driver’s license
On top of the problem of no car plates, there is no driver’s license available from LTO. Instead, you end up with an IOU when you renew of your driver’s license because the agency will issue a temporary license valid for 45 days.
“The LTO no longer has a credible supplier, because we terminated our previous supplier of 24 years last year,” our insider told us.
Some questions are in order:
- What happened to the supplier for over 20 years?
- Was it politics?
- Who is the new supplier?
- Could it be that the new supplier does not have the experience and the expertise to supply the LTO with plastic cards?
- Should the motorist bear such problems the LTO should have taken care of in the first place?
Beep-Beep! – VS, GMA News
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Veteran journalist Dino Ray V. Directo III has covered the police, shipping and automotive beats over the last 17 years. As a young boy growing up in Manila, his love for cars was cultivated after his uncle gave him with a 1:24 scale Revell model car kit. After assembling his first model kit, his enthusiasm for cars grew and eventually became his passion. According to Dino, everything he does is for God's greater glory!
His column, Beep-beep, appears every Monday on GMA News Online.
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