The government seems really bent on changing the landscape of the Philippine roads.
After announcing a series of construction including that of Skyway, a report surfaced that the new license plates will be implemented. If this story sounds familiar, you are not mistaken – it was already announced previously but was delayed due to technical problems.
But now, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) said the new series of license plates will be issued starting June or July this year. To refresh everyone’s memory, this is not only for aesthetic purposes, but to impose safety features to benefit motorists, motorcyclists and public utility vehicle drivers.
License plates for motor vehicles will now have three control letters and four digits such as LTO-1234, while motorcycle plates will have two control letters and five digits such as AA-12345. Plates for public utility vehicles will have three control letters and four digits plus their routes.
The new plates will also have safety features such as a laser-engraved logo at the back of the plate, and a bar code to check if the plates match vehicles they are assigned to. LTO head Virginia Torres said one major security feature is a plate lock that renders the license plate unusable if one tries to forcibly remove it.
As to the reality of having this implemented (finally), LTO said it has started the process of sending invitations to bid to prospective manufacturers. If this will reach the June/July deadline – barely two or three months from now – that’s what we’ll find out soon.
Covered by the new series of license plates are some 7.7 million registered vehicles in the country. Fifty three percent of these are motorcycles.
Do you think changing the license plates is timely, considering the ongoing developments on the road? Share with us your thoughts, mga Kapuso. – with reports from GMA News