LTO official: Irregularities on record holding back license plate replacements, issuance 

Irregularities on record of previously registered vehicles are among the factors hampering the replacement of oid license plates and the issuance of new ones, a Land Transportation Office (LTO) official said on Wednesday.

 

In an interview with GMA News TV's "News To Go,"  Assistant Secretary Alfonso Tan said the LTO is cleaning up its database and part of the process is looking into why there were irregularities in some of the old records in the first place.

 

"Medyo nagkakaroon lang kami ng delay doon sa mga pinapalitan namin na lumang plaka," Tan said.

 

The issuance of new plates is easier for first-time registrants, the official noted.

 

"Ang isang duda natin diyan, kung meron ngang irregularity – procedural, nagkamali ng file number – kailangan nating imbestigahan at linisin lahat ito, kasi ayaw nating mangyari na 'yung dating rehistro na irregular ay i-legitimize pa natin dahil binigyan natin ng bagong plaka," he added.

 

Triple trouble

 

Apart from this, Tan said delays also happen due to other factors, such as when the orders are placed and when the plates are delivered later than scheduled.

 

"Combination na ng lahat. Unang una, kasi dapat kapag nagpa-rehistro ka, dapat ang file mo ay tama. 'Yun ang nililinis rin namin. Pangalawa, kapag nagparehistro ka, du'n pa lang namin ino-order 'yung plaka dahil baka magkaroon ng oversupply. Pangatlo, sa supplier mismo, may orders kami na hindi nade-deliver on time," he said.

 

"The problem is not only double, it's triple," he added.

 

The firm that bagged the P3.8-billion contract for the new plates has delivered 487,938 of the 660,021 car plates ordered by the LTO for the first half of the year. 

 

In a report to the House committee on Metro Manila Development on Tuesday, the LTO said joint venture Power Plates Development Concepts Inc. and Dutch firm J. Knierem BV-Goes has yet to deliver the remaining 172,083 new plates ordered from January to June 2015.

 

A separate report on "24 Oras" noted the foreign contractor will be setting up a plant here in the Philippines to speed up the production process. 

 

"Nililinis po natin at itinatama po natin ang proseso sa LTO. Sinabi na po natin na itong program natin hindi lang aesthetics ito para pare-pareho lahat. Paraan rin para linisin 'yung database," said Tan.

 

He said the migration to new license plates is slated for five years. But "we expect sa four-wheeled vehicles, ngayong taon na 'to, mga 75 percent ay mapapalitan na namin lahat ng lumang plaka."

 

'No registration, no travel'

 

Tan pointed out the LTO is not implementing the "no plate, no travel" policy. Rather, a "no registration, no travel" policy is in place, allowing motorists to use their vehicles even without the new license plates as long as have proof of registration.

 

"Ang polisiya namin ay kung hindi ka rehistrado, hindi mo puwedeng gamitin ang iyong sasakyan. Pero malalaman lang talaga natin kung rehistrado o hindi, kailangan talagang parahin para makita talaga 'yung Certificate of Registration," he said.

 

In the past when the policy was first implemented, the LTO has intercepted motorists whose cars have no license plates, "pero hindi lang pala kinakabit," Tan added. – Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/VS, GMA News