Campaign vs unregistered newly-bought cars deferred

CEBU, Philippines - Land transportation officials in Central Visayas agreed to hold in abeyance the apprehension of unregistered newly-purchased motor vehicles provided that drivers can present proof of sale from the car dealers.

The agreement was reached during the recent strategic planning workshop of the members of the Regional Development Council wherein a complaint from the Cebu Auto Dealers Association was presented.

Land Transportation Office (LTO)-7 director Raul Aguilos they have agreed during the workshop to temporarily suspend the apprehension of unregistered newly-purchased vehicles to allow its owners to use it pending completion of their registration documents.

LTO personnel usually get the blame from vehicle owners because of their failure to expedite the issuance of the certificate of stock report, a requirement before a vehicle can be accepted for registration.

 “If our data shows that the certificate of stock report (CSR) has already been issued by the LTO we only give them a maximum of seven days to register their vehicles,” Aguilos said.

After one week, LTO personnel and the members of the Highway Patrol Group of the Philippine National Police can already start apprehending if no registration can be presented.

“All dealers have agreed in this arrangement. Likewise we are still waiting for their request to the LTO central office to extend the validity of the manufacturer’s permit until the issuance of CSR, which I would endorse favorably,” Aguilos added.

The procedure is that anybody caught driving an unregistered vehicle will be fined P2,000 and a similar amount will be also imposed against the owner of the vehicle.

The LTO records show that there are more than 20,000 newly-registered vehicles in Cebu and other parts of Central Visayas every year.

There were 521,903 assorted kinds of vehicles that were registered in different LTO branches in the region as of December 31, 2010. The number is a bit higher compared to 501,319 vehicles registered in 2009.

Central Visayas ranked fourth nationwide in the total number of vehicles registered next to Calabarzon.

National Capital Region (NCR) is the number one with 1,904,395 registered vehicles, followed by Central Luzon, 896,798. Calabarzon or Region 4-A has 832,018. – THE FREEMAN