Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Wednesday said it targets to complete at least 90% of its vehicle license plate backlog by the end of 2023.
“Right now, we have already extended the operating hours of the LTO license plate manufacturing plant. It now operates even on Saturdays so that it can produce more replacement plates and reduce the backlog,” LTO chief Teofilo Guadiz said.
The backlog for motorcycle license plates has so far reached 11.5 million while 2.3 million pairs of replacement plates still need to be produced, according to the LTO.
License plates with green characters and a white background are being phased out and replaced with plates bearing the new design of black characters on a white background.
As of Oct. 3, the LTO bared that over 300,000 pairs of replacement plates had been manufactured since it began production in May.
For motorcycle license plates, Guadiz said the LTO is currently prioritizing the provision of rear license plates and a decal for the front of the vehicle.
“Inuna na po namin muna ‘yung back plates. For the front, the thrust of the previous administration which we are adopting now is gagamit kami ng decal. We are anticipating the passage of the new law, so sa ngayon po, we will just address first the back plates, hindi muna yung sa harapan,” the LTO chief said.
[Translation: We’re prioritizing the rear plates. For the front, the thrust of the previous administration, which we are adopting now, was the use of a decal. We are anticipating the passage of the new law, so for now, we will just address the back plates first, not the front ones.]
The agency also mentioned that the Department of Budget and Management earlier approved ₱4.7 billion to address the license plates backlog although the LTO requested ₱6.83 billion.
RELATED: LTO needs ₱6.8B to clear plate backlog
Meanwhile, Guadiz emphasized that the LTO has no backlog in producing license plates for newly registered vehicles.
