Chiz to LTO: Suspend collection of registration sticker fees

MANILA, Philippines - For a significant number of motorists in the country, an entire year passed without their having received the stickers they paid for when registering or renewing vehicle registration with the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

Sen. Francis Escudero said this is unacceptable because the LTO collected a fee of P50 from each motorist when it clearly could not deliver.

The annual processing of vehicle registration for 2016 starts today and if it is still unable to hand out the stickers to motorists right away, Escudero said the LTO should stop charging the fee.

“Motorists got nothing from paying the amount. So, it is just right for the agency to refund the cost of the stickers,” he added.

According to the lawmaker, what the LTO has been doing could be considered “robbery” since they are collecting money for something that they have no capacity of delivering.

Escudero said that he has received complaints that some motorists have been paying for registration stickers for the past five years but did not receive any sticker at all since the agency encountered supply problems in 2011.

“This is even worse than the budol-budol (swindling) gang because this is being done right in our faces every year and supposedly for a product that you have no idea when you would receive,” he added.

Reports said the LTO late last year started releasing stickers for two-wheeled vehicles but has failed to do the same for four-wheeled vehicles, especially those seeking registration renewal.

Escudero urged the Commission on Audit (COA) to look into the matter since it “involves a huge amount of money.”

Based on 2013 data from the LTO, the 7.69 million registered motor vehicles in the country consisted of 868,148 cars; 1,794,572 utility vehicles; 346,396 sport utility vehicles; 358,445 trucks; 31,665 buses; 4,250,667 motorcycles or tricycles and 40,145 trailers.

On top of the sticker problem, the LTO is also suffering from a backlog in the issuance of license plates after COA prevented it from continuing a P3.85-billion motor vehicle plate standardization program, which was deemed illegal.

The LTO collected P450 and P120 respectively for motor vehicle and motorcycle owners in 2015. And, just like the registration stickers, motorists were charged the fees but never received the product.