Press Release - Tolentino urges LTO reforms to address 12.9M plate backlog

MANILA -- Senator Francis "Tol" Tolentino urged the Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Wednesday to ramp up its system to address a backlog of 12.9 million motor vehicle license plates.

During the deliberation of Senate Bill no. 159 amending the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act at the Senate Justice panel led by Tolentino, he asked: "How do you address these insurmountable backlogs?"

"What will it take the LTO to upgrade the system?" Tolentino further queried.

LTO Chief Atty. Vigor Mendoza responded that the agency is set to fully address such backlog in 2.5 years.

Meanwhile, with the current mechanics of LTO prioritizing the newer vehicles in the provision of plates, Sen. Tol likewise urged LTO to prioritize the older motor vehicles which have yet to obtain plates since 2014.

The measure's author, Sen. JV Ejercito, added that instead of pushing for double plates, LTO should prioritize providing at least one plate to all motor vehicles so each will have its own sufficient identity.

Meanwhile, Tolentino also underscored that LTO should streamline its process of adding and changing relevant information in the vehicle's Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID) to fulfill the bill's goal in preventing motorcycle crime.

"Administratively hassle iyon na pupunta sa LTO, papalitan yung pangalan, yung laman noong RFID. Medyo masalimuot iyon pero if it can be done from a central office na kayo na lang ang mag-encode, pasok na doon, okay siguro iyon," Sen. Tol said.

The panel will form a technical working group to finetune SB 159.