LTO starts bridging 11-M license plate backlog

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is starting to catch up with an 11-million backlog of license plates from 2013 to 2018.

“Itong sa bagong kontrata natin, 8,000 pieces a day. Sa estima natin, kung ito lang ang aasahang machine, ang estimate namin a little over one year,” LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview on Thursday.

“‘Yung increasing number of backlogs from July 1, 2016 onwards, mga two million plus. '‘Yon ang kinukumpleto natin under this new manufacturing machines,” he said.

The LTO is still in the process of hiring employees for a two-shift schedule for the seven embossing machines to produce up to 22,400 pieces per day of motor vehicle plates.

On June 14, 2016, the Supreme Court stopped LTO from releasing license plates after the Dutch-Filipino consortium PPI-JKG Philippines Inc., which holds the supply contract with the LTO, did not pay taxes and duties estimated at P40 million.

The Supreme Court lifted on January 2018 its order against releasing 700,000 license plates turned over by the Bureau of Customs to the LTO.

Galvante said car dealers have also been tapped to help distribute the license plates.

The Department of Transportation, through the LTO, started releasing the license plates on Thursday afternoon, specifically for motor vehicles registered in July 2016. —Jamil Santos/VDS, GMA News