THE Land Transportation Office (LTO) is set to implement the Motor Vehicle License Plates Standardization Program in April, LTO-Bacolod chief Renato Novero said.
Novero said the program was initially set to be implemented last January but the schedule was moved several times due to budgetary constraints.
The idea behind the program came up after it was observed that there is no uniformity of license plates in the country.
According to the LTO, the various designs makes it difficult for the agency to identify properly which plates are genuine or fake.
With the proliferation of dilapidated or illegible plates and the practice of not replacing lost license plates also triggered the implementation of the program.
For the standardization program, new private and for-hire motor vehicles will have license plates bearing three letters and four numeric symbols, motorcycles will have license plates bearing two letter and five numeric symbols, and diplomatic vehicles will be provided with plates bearing five numeric symbols.
Since motor vehicles are assigned permanently with a license plate number during its lifetime, those assigned with one will still be using the plate number series assigned to them. However, they will be replacing the existing plates with the new uniform designs, which will be issued to the vehicle owner within 45 days from the date of renewal of registration and after surrender of the existing plates and payment of fees, LTO said.
The new plates are also incorporated with security features that are aimed to promptly identify counterfeit plates, to aid law enforcement and improve the motor vehicle registration database, and to stop the proliferation of dilapidated and illegible plates and the prevalent practice of not replacing lost license plates.
Novero said the agency sees the program as a way of responding against the issue of carnapping and to contain the crimes committed by riding-in-tandem criminals.
He added that they are anticipating complaints in the implementation of the new program.
Once the new plates are installed, vehicle owners cannot transfer the plate to another vehicle because it is too brittle and would easily break if removed.
On the part of the local transport sector, Jessie Ortgea, secretary general of the Samahan Ng Mga Tsuper at Operator-Negros, said they will coordinate with their allied organizations in Manila to determine their stand on the plate standardization program.