LTO to clear backlog on motor vehicle plates by Nov. 15

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 13) — The backlog of motor vehicle license plates will be cleared in the next two days, or by Nov. 15, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) assured the Senate on Monday.

«The good news is by Nov. 15, there will be no more [license plate] backlogs for motor vehicles,» said Senator Grace Poe, the sponsor of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) budget, during the plenary discussions.

In September, the LTO, an attached agency of the DOTr, reported that there are more than 179,000 backlogs for motor vehicles.

According to Poe, there are currently around 990,000 unreleased motor vehicle license plates.

On the other hand, there is an estimated 13 million backlog on motorcycle licenses, which might take until 2025 to clear.

«Until 2025, there will still be motorcycle plates backlog to the tune of around 13 million,» Poe added.

Driver's license cards backlog

The chairperson of the Senate committee on public services said there are still 2.4 million driver's license cards to be issued as of October this year. By December, that number is expected to rise to 3.9 million

Nonetheless, Poe said that the LTO expects 4.6 million cards to arrive in 2024, and that she is confident the agency will be able to catch up on its backlog by 2025.

«Considering the projected annual requirement of 6.6 million cards based on average license card issuance of about 550,000 per month, this results in a projected deficit of 2 million cards in 2024,» she said.

Poe clarified that the license card issue is the reason behind the addition of roughly ₱297 million to the LTO's budget for 2024, which includes ₱80.3 million for the replacement of 23 laser engraver machines.