CEBU, Philippines — All applications for the registration of new motor vehicles in Central Visayas have already been completed, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) announced.
LTO-7 Regional Director Victor Caindec said all transactions have been processed.
“LTO no longer has backlogs for the registration of new vehicles,” he said during the recent Kapihan sa PIA (Philippine Information Agency) Cebu forum.
He said the car owners just need to coordinate with their respective dealers for the copy of their certificate of registration (CR) and official receipt (OR).
Moreover, Caindec said newly-purchased four-wheeled vehicles would have a radio frequency identification (RFID) and license plates by October this year.
“Before the year ends, the car owners will have the RFID and vehicle plates from their car dealers,” he said.
He said the development is a significant step in moving away from a state of affairs he sardonically called “Republika Ng Walang Plaka (No-Plates Republic).”
Last month, LTO-7 conducted the ceremonial printing of RFID stickers and turnover of motor vehicle plates to car dealers.
RFID tags are a type of tracking system that uses smart barcodes in order to identify vehicles. The tag or sticker has a microchip that stores the unique number assigned to a vehicle.
License plates
Meanwhile, from a backlog of over four million motor vehicle plates and four million motorcycle plates from 2013 to June 2016, LTO is now looking at closing this longstanding issue in the road sector by 2020, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said in a statement.
Under the guidance of the DOTr, the LTO opened its very own plate-making facility to expedite the production of plates that used to be outsourced.
With the facility, the LTO has already produced over 1.7 million pairs of vehicle license plates.
While the specifications of the proposed new motorcycle licensed plates are still being finalized, the plates for motorcycles registered before July 2016 are already being made by the LTO’s plate-making plant (PMP).
LTO satellite office
In a separate development, LTO-7 recently opened its Bantayan Island Extension Office in the town of Santa Fe in northern Cebu.
The satellite office offers services, such as issuance of student permit, renewal of driver's license, renewal or motor vehicle registration and other motor vehicles registration transactions. (FREEMAN)