DAVAO CITY – The Land Transportation Office in Region 11 (LTO-11) is starting to clean up backlogs of motor vehicle license plates following the ceremonial distribution of three of the 1,620 plates for vehicles registered between July 1 –31, 2016.
LTO-11 records show that it has a total backlog of 26,591 license plates from 2016 to June 2018. The total number is broken as 5,500 for July to December 2016; 14,391 for January to December 2017; and, 7,195 from January to June 2018.
LTO Assistant Regional Director Neil Cañedo said the figure does not include vehicles that were overtaken by the suspension of the plate printing prior to July 2016. He added that Davao region has been allocated with new plates from the 40,000 total plates printed by the national office.
Cañedo said the license plates will come in batches and will be distributed to automotive dealers and vehicle owners, who must bring the original OR/CR of the vehicle.
The new plates will have alphanumeric symbols–the three alpha start with the letter L which represents Davao region, then the four numbers. It also has a QR Code security feature that once scanned will give enforcers information about the car in case of violation of the LTO laws or traffic ordinances.
Aaron Penaco, the first to receive a pair of license plates for his car, can only heave a sigh of relief after two years of waiting.
“This is most awaited,” Penaco said in an interview after receiving the license plate. “It’s also high-tech.”
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who led the symbolic distribution of plates on Thursday noon at the LTO-11 office here, expressed optimism that LTO can finish clearing the backlogs in time for the proposed motor vehicle plate printing facility to be established in this city.
LTO Regional Director Gomer Dy targeted the clearing of backlogs by the first week of 2019. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)
