No more 2013 LTO registration stickers

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines - The chief of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Bais City, Negros Oriental has admitted the perennial problem of lack of registration stickers for vehicles for the current year 2013.

LTO-Bais District Office chief Alberta Janine Lawas on Tuesday said her office received last Friday only 1,200 stickers for distribution to motorcycles and other motor vehicles registered for this year.

Of this number, 600 stickers were allocated for motorcycles registered at her office, while the other half were for four-wheeled and other vehicles, Lawas said.

This is the first time this year the LTO-Bais received the registration stickers from the LTO Central Office, and Lawas said she was unsure if another batch will be released this year to her district office. "The stickers were distributed this week on a first-come, first-served basis," she said.

Lawas said her office has no control over the stickers as it is the LTO Central Office that distributes these to the different district offices in the country. She however assured the public that vehicle owners without stickers will not be apprehended by law enforcers.

In the absence of a sticker, the vehicle owner can present his or her current registration papers when flagged down at a checkpoint, said Lawas.

She warned that no deputized LTO enforcer, the police or traffic management officer can apprehend a vehicle owner in the absence of a sticker for as long as the vehicle's registration is current.  (FREEMAN)