THE Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Wednesday said it needs P6.8 billion to address the massive backlog in the release of vehicle plates.
In a television interview, LTO Officer-in-charge Romeo G. Vera Cruz disclosed they will seek the assistance of Congress to get that funding.
“We have a massive backlog for plates. I think we need about P6.8 billion to address all these backlogs for four-wheel [vehicles] and those for motorcycles,” Vera Cruz said.
Last month, LTO said it will need P2.6 billion to outsource the production of motorcycle plates alone.
Despite LTO’s existing automated plate-making plant, it noted that it has to resort to outsourcing due to the sheer volume of its backlog.
It explained it must request for an additional budget for the outsourcing since the fees paid by motorists for their plates are immediately transmitted to the Bureau of the Treasury.
Processing glitches
In a related development, Vera Cruz said LTO is also currently addressing the “glitches” in the registration of vehicles using their online system, as well as the issuance of drivers license.
“We encountered a problem there because of data migration. So we have experts who are already looking into that,” Vera Cruz said.
For licenses, he said the common issue is the breaking down of their laser engravers.
“Our engravers are about five years old so they are now breaking down. So we have to buy spare parts to repair all of these,” Vera Cruz said.
He noted once they address both “glitches,” their clients could expect better processing time.
Image credits: Bernard Testa