LTO to begin distributing license plates July 2018

MANILA, Philippines – The Land Transportation Office (LTO) announced it will begin distributing backlogged license plates in July this year.

The first batch of license plates to be distributed covers those registered from July 1, 2016 to October 31, 2016.

In a statement, the LTO said these license plates are now being sent to the agency’s regional and district offices nationwide.

“Hintayin lamang ang notification mula sa LTO bago pumunta sa opisina para makuha ang plaka ng inyong sasakyan,” said LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante.

(Just wait for a notification from the LTO before going to our office to get your license plate.)

As of June 18 this year, some 387,000 license plates have been made at the LTO’s plate-making facility, according to the agency.

Back in April, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) had announced the purchase of 7 manual embossing machines to address the backlog in license plates. These machines can make 22,000 license plates per day “at full production.”

The DOTr also said then that one automated embossing machine will be delivered in July, and will be operational by August. That machine would be able to produce 12,000 license plates per day.

The backlog had stemmed from a controversial P3.8-billion contract bid out in 2013, whose legality was questioned.

Hundreds of thousands of license plates were also confiscated in 2016, after the supplier failed to pay customs taxes and duties. The Bureau of Customs (BOC) eventually turned over the license plates to the LTO – a move that was also questioned, but later cleared by the Supreme Court (SC). – Rappler.com