No modern plates yet available for new cars

CEBU, Philippines - Modernized vehicle plates are still not available since the implementation of the license plate standardization program on September 1.

With this, vehicle owners have to wait for notification from the Land Transportation Office-7 once the new plates are available, if they already have registered starting the said date.

LTO-7 regional director Raul Aguilos said that the program already took effect for new registration of four wheeled vehicles.

“Nag start na ang implementation on September 1 pero wala pa mga plates nga ma-distribute,” Aguilos said adding that there are still administrative issues that has to be resolved.

These issues, Aguilos said, include the inventory of backlogs of plates, availability of computer facilities for data recording, among others.

The implementation of this modernization program is aimed to stop the proliferation of tampered license plates.

According to the Department of Transportation and Communications, these modern license plates contained several advanced security features and a new alphanumeric design that will prevent the tampering, theft and falsification of license plates, mitigating carnapping, colorum, and smuggling practices.

It has anodized bolt head screws and nuts with serial numbers which will prevent tampering and removal of the license plates from the vehicle bodies once installed. (FREEMAN)