The Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief, Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II, on Thursday shared that there are plans to issue license plates faster, following Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Vince Dizon’s criticism of the slow rollout and his challenge for the agency to provide them within three days.

Currently, it takes about five days for license plates to be issued, but Mendoza revealed that efforts are underway to ensure plates are available immediately when vehicles are released from dealerships.

“We've been talking to the dealers and manufacturers since last year — we plan to make sure that when a vehicle leaves the dealership, it already has a plate,” he said.

The LTO Chief stressed that to make this a reality, proper inventory management and accounting systems need to be put in place to avoid issues like theft or loss.

Further discussions are scheduled for 5 March, where final strategies will be laid out. If the pilot run goes well, the new system will be implemented nationwide.

One of the major challenges faced by the LTO is the occasional misallocation of plates, in which dealers send plates to the wrong locations.

“Sometimes, when the dealer processes the plates, those for Manila are sent to Quezon City, and they get mixed up,” Mendoza said.

However, he noted progress in addressing the backlog of motorcycle plates.

“In 2023, we started with 13 million, now we’re down to nine million,” he said.