The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is eyeing the conduct of a nationwide motor vehicle registration caravan in a bid to encourage delinquent owners to register around 24.7 million vehicles with expired registration.

LTO chief Vigor D. Mendoza II said part of the nationwide caravan is to simplify the process of motor vehicle registration, especially for car owners who are either not familiar or having difficulty using the agency’s online platform.

“We will be coordinating with local government units, especially at the barangay level, to facilitate the registration of motor vehicles through our planned nationwide caravan. We believe that barangay officials would be of big help in identifying and in convincing their constituents to register their delinquent vehicles,” said Mendoza.

Based on the LTO data, around 24.7 million motor vehicles, mostly motorcycles, have expired motor vehicle registration. Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions have the most number of delinquent motor vehicles, according to the same LTO data.

The 24.7 million motor vehicles with expired licenses translates to around 65 percent of the total number of motor vehicles in the country—which means that only 35 percent of motor vehicles currently travelling in all Philippine roads are registered. 

For Mendoza, the data is alarming since motor vehicle registration comes with an inspection protocol to determine the road worthiness of motor vehicles. 

While delinquent motor vehicle owners have their own reasons for failing to register at the LTO, Mendoza said one of the concerning reasons is that the motor vehicles may already have some problems.

He explained that this is also a cause for concern especially for vehicles being used for public transportation, saying the lives of the passengers are at risk.

“Our plan to hold a caravan is proof that your LTO is not only focused on law enforcement, we also want to bring our services closer to our clients, to the Filipino people,” said Mendoza. 

“This would be an extra effort for the LTO but everything will be worth it because we are talking here about road safety,” he added.

The LTO is currently conducting aggressive implementation of the “No Registration, No Travel” policy which has so far resulted in the apprehension of hundreds of motor vehicles across the country.

Mendoza urged delinquent motor vehicle owners to register in order to avoid serious problems that include impoundment of their motor vehicles.