LTO: New license plates now ready

CEBU, Philippines - The Land Transportation Office-7 presented during a press conference at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel yesterday new and enhanced license plates which are said to be available in the coming weeks.

“These are now ready for the (National Capital Region). In the coming weeks, these will be ready in Regions VII and XI,” said Emiliano Bantog Jr., LTO-7 executive officer.

He said that for private vehicles, the LTO has changed the color to a black and white combination “for visibility from afar and various angles.

Bantog said the designs of the new plates, which were part of the agency’s “plate modernization program,” may look simple, but security features were added to prevent illegal duplication.

He showed a sample plate for private vehicles with “hot stamps” on the borders, letters and numerics, which are not found in the old plates.

Another security feature is the place where the vehicle is registered for easy identification, said Bantog. Bar codes (for easy scanning by traffic enforcers) in the front replaced the slogans and laser etchings at the back of old plates.

The new plate, for private cars and public utility vehicles, will have three letters and four numbers, as Bantog said this is to address the growing demand.

Additional features on the new plate include an windshield sticker with the actual plate number as secondary identification for the vehicle, and the special bolts that come with it.

“When you install these (bolts) on your vehicles, the head will come out at the breaking point. This makes it difficult for anybody to remove it.  It prevents carnapping and other criminal activities,” Bantog said.

For PUVs, license plates would still be yellow, but the slogans are replaced with the origin of the registration and the classification of the vehicle, like if it is a city bus and its route/s for easy identification, said Bantog.

LTO assistant Secretary Alfonso Tan Jr. explained that only the new registrants will get the new plates.

He said vehicles with plate numbers can however get the new plates, but with the same plate number, once these are ready. He said for four-wheel-drive cars, the license plate is P450, while it is P150 for motor vehicles, while it comes with the registration fee for new registrants.

Tan said for motorcycle units, the plates will be ready January next year. He said that with a budget of P3 billion, they are hoping to replace almost eight million license plates nationwide.

Tan said processing time is around 45 days, as the plates would have to be made abroad because of the volume. He, however, assured that once the processing plants, which the contractor has promised to establish, are constructed in the Philippines they hope to shorten the processing time.

Tan also assured that since the new license plates would only be made once the registrants have paid for them, there would be no more “overstocking,” which happened in the past years.— /RHM (FREEMAN)