It feels as if month in and month out, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has new updates regarding its license plate backlogs. The most recent one, however, isn’t exactly good news.
In a recent Congress briefing, LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II basically confirmed that the agency won’t be able to clear its plates backlog within this year. “Given the volume... by next year pa ang complete backlog removal,” he said.
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As it stands, the backlog for motor vehicles is at 179,000 plates. It’s even worse for motorcycles, as it is now at a whopping 13.2 million. The agency estimates the backlog for motor vehicles to be cleared by the first quarter of 2024, while it will take about a year and seven months to release all remaining motorcycle plates.
Mendoza did say that the LTO has already ordered 15 million license plates and delivery of these is already ongoing, so the backlog is being reduced month in and month out.
“We have enough, with the order today, at yung allocation for 2024, we can already meet the backlog and the current consumption rate of the LTO,” Mendoza said. “Humahabol na tayo kasi bumibilis na yung delivery ng plates. 250,000 pairs every month for motor vehicles and one million every month for motorcycles. Even our production capacity is also increasing at 32,000 per day or around 700,000 per month.”
It remains to be seen how exactly the LTO will really distribute the backlogged license plates to motorists. It previously said that it is considering releasing the plates via malls. However, it still has its work cut out for it—we’re talking about millions upon millions of license plates here. For now, just note that as vehicle owners, you won’t be penalized if you fail to claim your plates within a certain period of time unlike what the LTO initially said.
