LTO 7: New Vehicle Plates Coming Next Week

● New plates part of the agency’s Modernization Program, security features added to prevent duplication.

The Land Transportation Office (LTO)-7 presented to the media on Friday the new license plates which are said to be available in the coming weeks.

“These are now ready for (National Capital Region). In the coming weeks, these will be ready in regions 7 and 11,” said Emiliano Bantog Jr., LTO’s executive officer. Bantog showed to the press, along with LTO regional staff, the new designs of the plates.

New color

For private vehicles, the LTO has changed the color combination to black and white “for visibility from afar and various angles,” according to Bantog. The designs of the new plates, which is part of the agency’s Plate Modernization Program, may be made simpler but security features were added to prevent illegal duplication, he said.

Bantog showed a sample plate for private vehicles with “hot stamps” on its borders, with letters and numerics which are not found in the old plates. Another security feature of the new plate is that it reveals the place where the vehicle is registered for easy identification, said Bantog.

The new plates features a bar code replacing the slogans and with laser etchings in the back. The bar code allows traffic enforcers easy identification.

Three letters and four numbers

The new plate for private cars and public utility vehicles, will have three letters and four numbers to address the growing demand for it, Bantog said.

Another feature are the windshield stickers that contains the actual plate number as secondary identification for the vehicle, and the special bolts that come with it.

“When you install these (bolts) on your vehicles, the head will come out at the breaking point. This makes it difficult for anybody to remove it. It prevents carnapping and other criminal activities,” Bantog said.

For PUVs, the color code is still yellow, but the slogans are replaced with the origin of the registration and the classification of the vehicle and its assigned route, said Bantog.

New Registrants

LTO assistant Secretary Alfonso Tan Jr. explained that only the new registrants will get the new plates. He said vehicles with plate numbers can however get the new plates, but with the same plate number, once these are ready.

He said that the fee for four-wheel cars is P450, while it is P150 for motor vehicles. Tan said it comes with the registration fee for new registrants.

Availability

Tan said that for motorcycle units, the plates will be ready at the earliest on January next year. He said they are hoping to replace almost 8 million plates nationwide, with which budget is around P3 billion.

He revealed that the processing time will take around 45 days as the plates will have to be made abroad because of the volume. But he assured assured that once the plate manufacturers establishes its plant in the Philippines, which the contractor has promised, they hope to shorten the processing time.

Tan also assured that since plates will only be made once the registrants have paid, there will be no more “overstocking,” as what had happened in their agency the past many years.

Image Credit: www.gmanetwork.com