MANILA, Philippines — Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Jay Art Tugade has extended the validity of the registration of new motorcycles with an engine displacement of 200 cubic centimeters and below to three years.
In a statement issued yesterday, Tugade said he issued Memorandum Circular No. JMT-2023-2395, amending the guidelines under Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, and Republic Act 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
Under current procedures, only motorcycles with an engine displacement of 201cc and above are qualified for a three-year validity of their initial registration with the LTO. Registrations of motorcycles with smaller engines are valid for a year.
“It is hereby directed that initial registration of brand new motorcycles with engine displacement of 200cc and below shall be valid for three years,” Tugade said in his memorandum circular.
According to Tugade, he decided to give a similar three-year validity of vehicle registration even for motorcycles with an engine displacement of 200cc and below following a study conducted by the agency.
“It is understood that the MVUC (motor vehicle user’s charge) to be collected during the initial registration shall likewise be adjusted to cover the corresponding registration validity period,” the memorandum circular added.
Tugade said the initiative is part of several measures the LTO will implement to fast-track the processing of documents and provide further convenience to the transacting public.
“We cannot see that this causes problems on the roadworthiness for motorcycles with three-year registration as these are new,” he said.
Tugade added that the move of the LTO will encourage many drivers to register their new motorcycles so that they can use the vehicles for work.
He said that based on previous LTO data, the owners of at least two million motorcycles with an engine displacement of 200cc and below will benefit from the new policy this year.
“This proves that the LTO listens to the suggestions of the public that have direct transactions with the agency. We will continue to review the present policies and regulations and if we need to change them to improve the system, we are willing to do it,” he said.
According to existing guidelines on vehicle registration, owners of motorcycles with an engine displacement of 200cc and below should register every year once the three-year validity of their initial registration has lapsed.