10T plates released during special issuance at mall

CEBU, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office-7 has distributed at least 10,000 vehicle plates during their special issuance in a mall last week until yesterday.

LTO-7 regional director Victor Caindec said yesterday that car owners have until September 28 to claim their vehicle plates at their respective dealers.

Caindec added that effective October 1, they will apprehend registered vehicles that do not have plates.

As of September 3, Caindec said that they have a total of 23,625 vehicle plates for those registered from July 2016 to February 2017.

Caindec also urged car dealers to remind their customers to get their vehicle plates considering that LTO has already relaxed some of the guidelines in releasing.

Caindec said that during the launching of the plates releasing last July 5, their office has received a total of 17,396 plates for vehicles registered from July 2016 to December 2016.

“Unya sa 17,396 ka mga plaka, 500 ra ang ni claim. Daghan na ta og plaka pero gamay ra ang nanguha pero mas daghan og reklamo sa Facebook,” Caindec lamented earlier.

 LTO’s Plate Making Plant in Manila produces about 16,000 plates daily.

 Caindec is hopeful that the backlog on the issuance of vehicle plates will be solved by next year.

Central Visayas has about 480,000 backlog when he assumed the post in January this year and this was recently reduced to 390,000.

“We are trying our very best to reduce the number of plate backlogs. Hopefully, by next year kay masulbad na ni,” Caindec said.

The releasing of plates is done gradually and announcements will be made in the succeeding months on what plates are ready for release and pick up. (FREEMAN)