DAGUPAN CITY – The Land Transportation Office (LTO) Regional Office 1 (Ilocos region) rolled out 4,447 pairs of vehicle plates here Thursday morning.
In an interview with Department of Transportation Undersecretary Thomas “Tim” Orbos, he bared that the plates released were part of the nationwide backlog from July 1, 2016 to December 31 of the same year.
“We have a backlog of almost six million plates, but we are doing our best to fill that backlog by December this year. We can promise that not later than January 2019, there will be a one is to one ratio for vehicles and plates. No more backlog,” he said.
This does not include backlogs during the years 2013 to 2015, when the Commission on Audit disallowed the LTO to distribute the license plates due to discrepancies, he added.
Orbos said motorcycle plates are also not included in the said backlog, as a proposed law mandating motorcycles to attach two helmets – in front and in the rear, is still underway in Congress.
“We will begin the production of motorcycle plates as soon as we get the green light, but it will also have almost the same design as our new vehicle plates,” said Orbos.
Director for Law Enforcement Service of LTO Francis Almora, in an interview with newsmen, emphasized that the new plates released, with added features for security, were manufactured here in the Philippines.
“New designs were included as we have a new manufacturer from the local scene, for better security and anti-criminality,” said Almora.
The new vehicle plates have a Quick Response (QR) Code, which contains details about the vehicle, he explained.
Aside from the pair of plates, radio-frequency identification (RFID) stickers were distributed, to be placed by the drivers on the windshields of their vehicles.
“The RFID and the QR Code both contain details about the vehicle registered to LTO. If the sticker and the QR did not match, then it is a possibility that either the car or the plate was stolen,” Almora added.
The information in the QR Codes can be accessed by anyone with a QR Code Reader application and internet connectivity in his or her smartphone.
Almora further said that engraved region indicator was also removed from the plates, as it was incorporated in the first letter of the plate itself.
“Our new plates here in the region have the letter “I” as the first among the three letters. This means that the vehicle was initially registered in Region 1,” he said. (PNA)
