‘Budget constraints caused P2 billion license plate backlog’

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) attributed the backlog in the production of license plates to budget constraints of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), after the agency was called out by the Commission on Audit (COA) for its failure to deliver P2.159 billion worth of license plates.

“Allow us to further clarify that the reported backlog in the production of plates is due in large part to the lack of budget of the LTO,” the DOTr said in a statement yesterday.

“Please note that the LTO, just like any other national government agency, remits all its revenues collected to the National Treasury. Thus, it needs to request its budget allocation from the national government to address all its programs and activities,” the DOTr said.

The LTO cited as an example that it requested a budget of P1.86 billion in 2019 but was granted only P696.74 million.

In 2020, the LTO requested P3.5 billion but was allocated only P925.41 million. However, out of this allocation, only P736.74 million was released to the agency.

The DOTr said the LTO has requested a budget allocation of P2.616 billion for 2022 so that the agency can meet the demand to produce 16 million license plates by June 30 of next year.

To expedite the release of license plates, the DOTr said the LTO had planned to outsource production “for calendar years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2022” to complete the projected 16 million plates by June 30, 2022.

The DOTr said the contract stated in the COA report was signed in 2014 between the then Department of Transportation and Communications and PPI-JKG Philippines, Inc. for the delivery of 5.2 million pairs of motor vehicle plates and 9.9 million pieces of motorcycle plates to supply the LTO license plate requirements up to 2017.

Out of these, over four million pairs of motor vehicle plates and more than 7.2 million pieces of motorcycle plates were undelivered.

In 2015, the DOTr said LTO’s payment to the PPI-JKG was disallowed by COA.

Due to the COA disallowance, the DOTr said the payment to the supplier had to be suspended, which led to the stoppage of the production and delivery of the license plates from the LTO.

The Supreme Court likewise issued a temporary restraining order on the distribution of the produced plates following scrutiny by several lawmakers.

The DOTr said the current administration was confronted with the production and distribution backlog of millions of license plates when it took over in 2016.

The notice of disallowance was lifted in 2018 and in the same year, a new contract was awarded through public bidding for the rehabilitation of the LTO plate-making plant, which can produce over 5,600 plates in an eight-hour shift per day.

It was also in 2018 that the LTO started the release of motor vehicle plates registered in July 2016, according to the DOTr.

The DOTr said through the LTO, it continues to prevent a recurrence of backlogs in the issuance of license plates. – Emmanuel Tupas