New Department of Transportation (DOTr) secretary Vince Dizon has just been appointed to his post, and he recently hosted a briefing with the press to share his initial plans for the agency moving forwad.
During the press conference, Dizon was asked if there was another way to make the production and distribution of license plates faster and more efficient. It’s an important question that needs to be answered given that the automotive sector is aiming for 500,000 car sales this year.
On top of that, motorcycle sales keep rising and it’s likely to further add more strain to plate production. Dizon’s answer? Build more license plate-making facilities if needed.
OTHER STORIES FROM THE DOTR CHIEF’S BRIEFING:
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New DOTr chief suspends full implementation of ‘anti-poor’ cashless toll collection
“2025 na, walang rason para ang plaka mo ay hindi mo makuha pagkabili mo ng sasakyan o ng motor,” said Dizon. “There is no reason. With technology, making a plate
is not rocket science.”
He then added: “Probably 24-48 hours nandiyan na ready na ’yan, eh. Pero may option ka din na ipapa-courier mo na lang sa bahay mo, eh. Bakit hindi magagawa? Hindi ko nangintindihan ’yun eh. So, I’m really going to demand from our LTO: provide better service for our motorists.
“Kung kailangan magdagdag ng factory, dapat magdagdag ng factory. Unacceptable ’yan.”
Dizon also noted that plates are paid for by the vehicle owner, and there is no excuse for it to still be unavailable months after purchase. He went as far as saying that, in his opinion, the payment should be refunded if the plate is still not with the owner.
Back in 2023, then LTO chief Jayart Tugade wanted the registration processing procedure to be displayed prominently in showrooms. It’s mainly for transparency, but also to get dealers to speed up the process of getting both the OR/CR and the license plates.
On top of that, compliance was monitored by the LTO via a monthly report of license plate numbers issued per dealership. The target is for all documents and plates to be with the owner within 11 days.
