EDITORS DESK
Iñigo S. Roces
For some years, motorists have been plagued by a lack of official number plates owing to the numerous scandals relating to their printing and procurement. The need for new plates arose thanks to the growing number of vehicles on the road. The six alpha-numeric characters were simply not enough to keep up with the number of currently registered vehicles, along with the over 400,000 new vehicles registered annually. A design change integrating a fifth digit was approved and it was decided to update all vehicle plates to make them appear more uniform, rather than change with each administration.
Unfortunately, issues arose relating to the printing and procurement of these plates. With the matter being settled in court, many motorists were left without new plates for their vehicles for years.
It seems to be finally solved with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) taking on the task themselves by acquiring the necessary machinery and facilities to print the vehicle plates themselves. This takes care of four-wheeled vehicles. However, another crisis is looming for motorcycles.
As with the cars, the printing of motorcycle plates had also been halted when the scandal erupted over the new white plates and their procurement. At this time, motorcycle plates used an alpha-numeric format composed of five digits and two letters. The fifth digit had just been added to keep up with the growing number of motorcycles on the road.
As the new plates were about to be released, a new motorcycle law was passed mandating a new design for motorcycle plates. From the five-digit, two-letter format, it was changed to three-letters, three-digits, just like cars. This required the number plate itself and the alpha-numeric characters to be larger to make them easier to read. In addition, a front plate decal would be required as well. Unfortunately, this had rendered the millions of new five-digit, two-letter motorcycle plates that were already printed useless.
Fortunately, the LTO is capable of printing the new rear plate and has been doing so for the past years. It has already printed three-million thus far. The front number decal is another matter entirely. Unfortunately, the plate-making facility is only capable of producing 22,000 number plates (cars and motorcycle combined).
With the large backlog for four-wheeled vehicles and an even larger 18-million unit backlog for motorcycles, it doesn’t look like it will be resolved soon. Further complicating matters is the 2022 deadline set for meeting this backlog.
It’s no surprise that the LTO has recently asked the government for P2.5-billion from the treasury in order to contract a supplier to print these plates and meet the deadline. Yet like before, having a supplier provide these plates yet again will likely raise a lot of eyebrows.
In either case, the long wait for number plates is likely to continue. While the new format will suit the current demand for the mean time, as purchases of vehicles continue, yet another format change (adding another letter or digit) will be needed in the coming years. That means another round of design proposals, bidding and procurement, and possibly yet another round of cases or scandals. The LTO number plate scandal is becoming a staple with each administration. It will only go away once the agency begins looking further than the current administration and finds long-term, future-proof solutions, not just stop-gap measures.
(The author is the Motoring Editor of Manila Bulletin.)