According to the Land Transportation Office (LTO), 90% of the backlog will be cleared by the time most of the license plates that have not been issued become accessible by the end of 2023.
Guadiz said that a private company would be hired to make the plates that won’t make it this year.
“Right now, we have already extended the operating hours of the LTO license plate manufacturing plant. It now operates even on Saturdays so that it can produce more replacement plates and reduce the backlog,” — LTO chief assistant secretary Teofilo Guadiz III.
Currently, there are 2.3 million backlogs for cars and 11.5 million for motorcycles for replacing license plates.
Rep. Eric Martinez of Valenzuela City’s 2nd District, who helped make the DOTr budget for 2023, said that the budget cut was to blame. He said that the transport agency had asked for funding of ₱6.8 billion to make license plates, but the Department of Budget and Management only gave them ₱4.7 billion.
LTO says that there is no backlog for new license plates for vehicles that have just been registered.
The LTO platemaking says that as of October 3, more than 300,000 pairs of replacement plates have been made.
