A partylist lawmaker has once again urged the House of Representatives to restore the Department of Transportation's requested budget for its free ride program and the Land Transportation Office's planned allocation to alleviate its plate number backlog.

According to Representative Wilbert Lee of AGRI Partylist, DoTr's free ride program helps and benefits not only commuters but also operators, drivers and transport cooperatives.

During his interpellation on the proposed DoTr budget for 2023, the partylist solon emphasized the necessity of the Libreng Sakay program, noting that discontinuing it in these difficult times would be a disservice to millions of Filipinos commuters who continue to benefit from it.

It can be recalled that DoTr Undersecretary Steve Pastor, during the committee hearing, disclosed that the agency's Service Contracting Program, which provides the "free ride" program, did not receive funding in the 2023's national budget.

As of 21 June, LTFRB reported that the Libreng Sakay program had served 203.6 million passengers.

The lawmaker likewise followed up on the LTO's car and motor plate backlog, which has been ongoing since 2014.

The LTO proposed a P6.8 billion budget to handle the backlog in 2022, but the Department of Budget and Management lowered this to P4.7 billion, a P2.1 billion decrease in financing.

Lee questioned the LTO, who then disclosed that there are still 11,541,050 plate numbers on hold. It also affirmed that the government has stopped allocating funds since 2017.

LTO, for its part, stated that if its requested budget is approved, it will be able to clear the plate number backlog by next year.

Lee filed House Resolution No. 418 on Tuesday, urging the House Committee on Appropriations to restore the P12-billion budget for the Libreng Sakay program, and grant an additional P2.1-billion funding to LTO to finally address the backlog on plate numbers.