‘No vehicle registration, no travel’ starts today

MANILA, Philippines - Starting today, enforcers and deputized agents of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) will apprehend violators of the agency’s “no registration, no travel” policy.

Four-wheeled motor vehicles not registered with the LTO will not be allowed to travel, LTO spokesman Jason Salvador said yesterday.

Salvador said vehicles without license plates, especially brand new ones, would be pulled over by LTO agents.

He said drivers of new vehicles can evade apprehension if they will be able to present valid registration papers such as official receipt (OR) and certificate of registration (CR).

Under the joint administrative order of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and LTO, owners of unregistered vehicles will be fined P10,000. Drivers caught by LTO enforcers will be made to pay P1,000.

Motorists who will be able to present OR-CR will be fined P5,000 for failure to put their license plates on their car.

Among the authorized deputized agents are members of the Philippine National Police and LTO trained enforcers.

Based on an LTO advisory published in The STAR, LTO enforcers and deputized agents in complete uniform with valid identification cards and carrying temporary operators permit are authorized to apprehend violators of the no registration, no travel policy.

Salvador warned motorists against dealing with fake LTO agents.

Violators will be issued “pink tickets” upon apprehension.

“If they will not issue pink tickets, they are not our deputized agents,” the LTO official said, adding the policy should have been implemented in August 2014.

Motorists who will bribe deputized enforcers will be slapped with additional charges.

LTO enforcers and deputized agents found guilty of receiving bribes from erring motorists will face administrative charges and dismissal from government service.

Some netizens, however, criticized the LTO policy.

A Quezon City motorist said the LTO should first resolve the issuance of license plates.

“The government’s no registration, no travel policy is nonsense,” Robert Tajonara posted on his Twitter account.