DILIMAN, Quezon City — Noting the Land Transportation Office (LTO) 's turtle-paced processing of vehicle license plates, transportation secretary Vivencio' Vince' Dizon has set a three-day deadline for the agency to release the license plates for newly registered vehicles whilst resolving the massive backlog of unissued motorcycle plates.

The transportation chief issued the deadline notice just a week after slamming the slow rollout of plates and the huge backlog in unreleased plates for motorcycles that date backs to 2014.

"Can we make sure that moving forward, that won't happen again? Can we ensure that in 24, 48, or 72 hours, (vehicle owners) get their plates? Both motorcycles and four-wheeled vehicles. We will post th(e) challenge and see if the LTO can deliver," Dizon pointed out.

The problem concerning the sluggish processing of license plates was exposed by a Commission on Audit (COA) report that revealed it takes more than a year or years before newly registered vehicles are able to get their respective plates even as over 9.1 million motorcycle plates remained undelivered as of 2023.

According to state auditors, the backlog could be attributed to insufficient funding, procurement delays and logistical lapses. They also noted that many vehicle registrants had already paid for their plates but were still waiting years later.

Aside from the worrisome concern on unissued motorcycle plates, CoA also found that 1.69 million pairs of motor vehicle replacement plates—paid for by registrants as early as 2015—have yet to be produced and distributed.

These undelivered plates, it said, amount to a staggering ₱763.55 million in fees collected without fulfillment by the LTO.

Realizing the subsequent problem from this lamentable situation, Secretary Dizon made it clear to LTO officials that accountability is now the name of the game as he announced plans to set strict deadlines, stating that without a clear timeframe, inefficiencies will persist.

"Because if there's no deadline, naturally, you'll just take it easy and won't feel any pressure. But if there's a deadline, at the very least, you'll be driven to push forward," he pointed out.

Following the transportation chief's pronouncement, the LTO acknowledged the issue and stated it is following up on a pending request for ₱2.1 billion from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to fully clear the backlog for motorcycles registered between 2014 and 2022.