LAND Transportation Office (LTO) Chief, Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor D. Mendoza II has ordered all regional directors to ensure that all the license plates of tricycles, particularly those being used in public transportation, are delivered by April 30 this year.
The order came after the inventory of the printed license plates revealed that they are sufficient to cover all the tricycles across the country and the only challenge that remains is how to deliver them to the rightful owners.
Asec Mendoza explained that they are already confident that they would be able to finish the distribution of the license plates for tricycles across the country amid the significant improvement in the license plate printing process since last year.
“This is part of our catch-up plan to distribute license plates. As we have committed before, we are doing everything in our power to speed up the printing and we are happy to inform the public that we were able to achieve it and right now, the challenge is to distribute them to the owners,” said Asec Mendoza.
“Tayo po ay nagpapasalamat sa ating DOTr Secretary sa kanyang patuloy na suporta upang masolusyunan na ang matagal na problema sa plaka na nagsimula pa noong 2014,” he added.
Asec Mendoza said he already instructed all LTO regional directors to craft and submit their plan on how they intend to distribute the license plates in their general area of responsibility.
He said the LTO Regional Directors are given until January 27 to submit the distribution plan, the intention is to guide them in the implementation period based on past experiences.
Asec Mendoza, however, stressed the need for coordination with the local government units to ensure the success of the program.
“Ever since, the LGUs have played a significant role in the distribution of the license plates. Even the barangay officials are always willing to assist, all that we need is to coordinate them properly,” said Asec Mendoza.
The distribution of the license plates for tricycles is part of the effort of the LTO to address the backlog on motorcycle plates by July this year.
The backlog of license plates for the four-wheel vehicles were already addressed as early as January last year.
Asec Mendoza highlighted the importance of the tricycles having their legitimate license plates, as he explained that this is also part of the solution on the problem of colorum tricycles in every town and cities.
In Quezon City for instance, all the Tricycle Operators and Drivers Associations (TODA) expressed gratitude to Asec Mendoza after the backlog on the license plates was addressed—the distribution was done in coordination with the Quezon City LGU.
As a result, TODA officials said their daily earnings significantly improved as colorum tricycles were already wiped out.
“We want to replicate this good practice in Quezon City to the rest of the country. With the help of the LGU, we will not only address the backlog but also the problem on colorum tricycles,” said Asec Mendoza.
