An official of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) clarified on Thursday that motorcycle riders only need to pay once for their license plates.
“Marami pong nagagalit at nagtatanong sa akin kung bakit daw kailangan pa nilang magbayad ulit para sa kanilang plaka, gayong nabayaran na nila ito noon,” Transportation Assistant Sec. Goddes Hope Libiran said in a statement.
“Linawin ko lamang po – walang pong babayarang muli ang mga motorista dahil one time lang po ang pagbabayad para sa plaka,” she added.
The DOTr official made the clarification after Land Transportation Office (LTO) Assistant Sec. Edgar Galvante said in a virtual meeting on Monday that the agency will need P2.5 billion in order to address the backlog in motorcycle plates.
“Please understand that LTO neither holds nor maintains any revenue it collects from motorists,” she said. “Lahat po ng kita o ‘yung mga ibinabayad ng motorista sa LTO— kesyo bayad sa huli, lisensya, plaka, rehistro, etc., hanggang sa kahuli-hulihang sentimo— ay nire-remit ‘ho sa National Treasury. Wala pong natitira sa LTO.”
“Once remitted to the National Treasury, it is the DBM and Congress who decide how much will be alloted to fund specific projects or services, subject to the request of the agency,” Libiran said.
She added: “DBM at Congress ‘ho ang nag-aapruba ng annual budget ng LTO. Ito ‘ho ang tamang konteksto ng sagot ni Asec. Galvante. Tinanong ‘ho siya kung magkano po ang pondong kailangang ng LTO na mailaan sa kanila ng Kongreso upang mai-produce ang lahat ng backlog sa plaka ng motorsiklo, and he merely stated LTO’s requested budget, which is P2.5 billion. ‘Yan po ang tamang proseso.”
During the virtual briefing, Galvez said that around three million motorcycle plates were distributed to the district offices and accredited dealers across the country.
“Ginawa natin na sa pag-manufacture ng motorcycle plate, inumpisahan natin ito para sa motorcycles registered simula ng 2018 pataas. At iyon namang below 2018 – meaning 2017 and earlier – hinahangad po nating ma-manufacture a little later,” Galvante explained.
However, the LTO official admitted that the agency is facing challenges in manufacturing the motorcycle plates.
“Kasi iyong inaasahan po nating madadagdag na equipment, iyong robot, eh ini-expect po sana namin iyan earlier na ma-install. Bagama’t dahil sa pandemya, iyong mga inhinyero ang mag-i-install niyan manggagaling sa Germany at sa Netherlands eh hindi po nakarating. And ito po ay nag-cause ng isang malaking delay sa dami ng motorcycle plates na iimprenta ng LTO sa pang-araw-araw,” he said.
With this, Galvante said that they are eyeing to outsource the production of around 10 million motorcycle plates in order to address the backlog.
“Nag-request po kami sa—iyong kasama sa budget ng LTO, isinama namin iyong pangangailangang around 2.5 billion. Hopefully maibigay ito para naman magamit natin iyong pondong iyon para i-contract out natin iyong number ng plaka na hindi magagawa dito sa ating sariling planta,” he said.
“So kung ito po’y maa-approve at maisakatuparan eh iyong iba pong supplier na nakakapag-produce po ng plaka according to the specification eh kumbaga maku-complement iyong ginagawa ng LTO sa pagpu-produce ng plaka dito sa planta,” he added.