CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Tuesday admitted having a backlog of 5,000 pairs of license plates in Central Luzon.
LTO Spokesman Jason Salvador said it is only in Region 3 where there is a huge backlog of vehicle plates.
He added that former LTO Regional Director Oliver Macaspac was recently replaced owing to the problem.
“But the replacement of Macaspac is just one of the issues,” Salvador said. Salvador and other LTO officials led by LTO chief Alfonso Tan Jr. met with stakeholders to find ways to make services at the LTO “more efficient and better.”
Asked if there was a suspension of the “no registration, no travel” order issued last April 1, Salvador said “We can’t because it’s a law.”
He added that, under the law, the vehicles should be registered and have license plates number within seven days of release from the dealer.
Salvador said the agency is supporting calls to amend the law because seven days “is sometimes not enough” for car dealers to work for the registration of the vehicle bought from them.
Earlier, Liberal Party Rep. Oscar Rodriguez of Pampanga and Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano called for a 30-day suspension of the “no registration, no travel” policy of the LTO.
“The policy is not well-planned and has to be reevaluated. The cause of delay, about 70 percent, is with the LTO and they’re saying 30 percent is with car dealers,” Rodriguez said.
He added that car dealers “surely wanted to fix the registration on time because it is a part of their business.”
Rodriguez said “incompetent LTO personnel” largely caused the delay.
Cayetano said the moratorium would straighten out flaws in the process, without punishing motorists with fines.
“The suspension would give the private contractor time to produce the new plates, the LTO to overcome the backlog and car dealers to immediately claim the car plates of the buyers,” Cayetano said in a statement.
The “no registration, no travel” policy stemmed from Department of Transportation and Communications’ Memorandum Circular AVT-2015-1927.
Under the regulation, the vehicle owner will be subject to a fine of P10,000 if his vehicle does not have a license plate, while the driver will pay P1,000.
Cayetano said the agency’s policy is inefficient, as it would punish motorists even as the LTO and its license plate contractor failed to do their duties well.
He threatened to block the LTO’s 2016 budget if his call for a 30-day moratorium on the implementation of the “no plate, no travel” policy were not followed.
(With Recto Mercene)