LTO seeks to address license plate backlogs in ‘soonest possible time’

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is working to address the backlog of license plates for motor vehicles and motorcycles. The agency said that it has ordered a total of 15 million blank plates for it to address the license plate backlogs soonest.

The Facebook post detailing LTO's order of metal plates

This order of metal plates that are used in making license plates is one of the LTO’s measures to address the backlog and supply shortage issue “in the soonest possible time”. As of this writing, the current backlog clocks in at 13.2 million for motorcycles and around 179,000 for motor vehicles.

According to LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigo Mendoza II, it was the Department of Transportation (DOTr) who spearheaded this order. Mendoza further added that “we [LTO and DOTr] already ordered 15 million license plates and the delivery has already started. With this, we can expect to address the backlog for both motor vehicles and motorcycles on a monthly basis.”

Mendoza added that the agency is able to produce 250,000 pairs of plates per month for motor vehicles. Do note that cars, after all, need two plates: one for the front and one for the rear. Furthermore, it is said that the agency also has the capacity to produce 1 million motorcycle license plates every month.

“Even our production capacity is also increasing at 32,000 per day or around 700,000 per month,” Mendoza shared.

Mendoza inspecting the LTO's license plate printers

Regardless of its progress in dealing with the backlog, the LTO chief has asked for the understanding and patience of the public. As stated above, the size of the backlog is massive.

The agency, however, was confident that it may be able to address all of its license plate backlogs by next year. This includes the license plates for newly registered vehicles, as well as replacement license plates.

Of note, it was previously promised by the agency back in 2022 that it would complete the backlog by 90 percent by 2023. This though, was announced when the backlog still numbered at 11.5 million.

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