PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday, ordered the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to fast track the release of all pending drivers licenses and vehicle plates to achieve zero backlog in June next year in a bid to address the challenge.
In a sectoral meeting at the Malacañan Palace, President Marcos particularly noted the backlog for motorcycle plates that remained at 11.4 million from the previous administration.
In response to the President, the LTO Chief, Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza said that of the figure, they have already produced one million motorcycle plates, leaving around 10.3 million in backlog as of June 2022.
“It seems you have the problem in hand. We can accelerate the target for the motorcycle plates. Best efforts. ‘Wag lang tayo lalampas sa June 30 next year. Sana mas maaga pa,” President Marcos said.
“It would not be a bad thing to be able to announce that we have a zero backlog as of today. And that all the issuances are going to be for the new vehicles, or replacement, renewal of license,” he added.
Mendoza told President Marcos the administration was confronted by the 11.4 million motorcycle plate backlog along with 2.3 million replacement requests on June 30, 2022.
Mendoza, however, said they already came up with solutions to address the problem, including the order of around 13.4 million plates.
“What has been delivered already is 9.7 million. The balance to be delivered is 3.6 million. Our current inventory is 5.2 million,” Vigor told President Marcos.
Vigor said they have expanded the capacity of their machines, which is now composed of eight manual machines and two “robotic machines” that can produce 48,000 plates per day, or almost two times higher than the previous daily production of around 28,000 plates.
In a press conference in Malacañang, Mendoza pointed out that they are targeting to achieve zero backlog for motorcycle plates by June 2025 with the help of the motorcycle traders who will be compelled to strictly comply with the 11-day release period.
Mendoza said they will launch a hotline number to allow riders to report erring motorcycle traders.
