EDITORIAL - No more license plate backlog

A decade after vehicle license plates began running out, the Land Transportation Office has announced that the backlog has finally been cleared.

The next task of the LTO is to ensure that the problem is not repeated.

LTO data showed that as of June 30 this year, the agency had produced 3,381,772 pairs of license plates for motor vehicles as well as 11,815,068 for motorcycles. These are sufficient to address both current plate requirements as well as the backlog that had accumulated since 2014, the LTO said.

It credited the resolution of the problem to the performance of its own plate-making plant. Its next task is to distribute the license plates to millions of vehicle owners nationwide. LTO officials said they hope to complete the distribution by October.

The entire Luzon has the largest backlog of 2.4 million in motorcycle plates alone. Metro Manila follows with 1.4 million; Mindanao has a backlog of 992,000 and the Visayas has 672,000.

At the height of the backlog, vehicle owners complained that they had to wait up to two years for license plates. Some owners groused that they bought and sold their vehicles without getting the license plates. It was one of the issues that reinforced perceptions of inaction and paralysis during the second Aquino presidency.

The backlog also created an industry that produces bogus license plates. The plates, whose redesigning cost also drew criticism, are relatively easy to fake, and to this day, producers continue to churn out bogus plates.

With the end of the backlog, the LTO hopes to put the producers of the fake plates out of business.

License plates must be issued within a reasonable period after the purchase of a brand-new vehicle. There must be an intensified crackdown on producers of fake license plates, which are used not only by those tired of waiting for their plates, but also for the getaway vehicles of criminals.

People continue to buy cars and motorcycles, and there remains the possibility of another serious backlog. Having addressed the problem after over 10 years, the LTO must ensure that it does not happen again.