LTO: 670K license plates still unclaimed by owners stored in Cebu

Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief, Atty. Vigor Mendoza II, yesterday inspected the agency’s Cebu storage facility and found out that there are still some 670,000 license plates that remain unclaimed by their owners. These plates were issued between 2018 to present for Region 7.

Responding to Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista’s instructions of ensuring the readiness of facilities for the distribution of the remaining unclaimed license plates, Asec. Mendoza went to Cebu to also check on their best practices in distributing the license plates to their owners.

“Gusto natin inihahanda na natin ang kapasidad ng ating mga opisina dito, gaya sa Cebu, para pagdating ng mga plaka, dating ng mga license plates eh maganda ‘yung distribution systems natin dito,” Mendoza said in an interview with reporters.

(We want to prepare our offices’ capacity, like in Cebu, so that when the license plates arrive, we have a good distribution system in place.)

No to fixers

Mendoza pointed out that if the systems are in place, the public will not resort to seeking the services of fixers for the processing of their license plates or even cards.

This is one example, Cebu, in the development of a one-stop shop facility where people don’t need to go elsewhere and our processes will be faster. People will no longer seek the services of fixers because they themselves can do it,” added Mendoza.

Mendoza said they will also tap the assistance of other groups and stakeholders to hasten the release of license plates to their owners.

In an earlier statement, the LTO Chief said that the agency is targeting to finish the distribution of the unclaimed license plates by September of this year. Mendoza said the LTO is also tracing what are the possible reasons why these license plates, with some dating back to 2018, were not claimed by their owners.

“We are studying everything, we are auditing all the documents pertaining to it, since we have to correct what has been done to avoid it from happening again.”