If you understand the new LTO rules, please let me know.
I bought a new car, and dressed it up with a chrome tag cover that even says Mitsubishi on it. Then I’m told that the old US size Rizal License Tag is out the door, down the road never to be used again but before panic and pandemonium sets in, your old Rizal style tag could still be good until your car is scrapped and maybe only the new car purchases will be issued the new tag. (Note the words “Could and Maybe”) They (The Contracted Company) are after all only one year behind in production. This is how clear the new rule is.
Whoa Nelly “HOT NEWS FLASH” according to the interwebby thingy every car in the Philippine Archipelagos will be required to purchase the new style license tag even though the company making the tag can’t fulfill the requirements for the brand new cars, I’m in my 5th month using a temporary tag. But have no fear; the Philippine Congress and Senate are looking into the matter as you read this missive.
Here is a quote from Senator Recto:
” Why order the mass cancellation of 9 million motor vehicle plates?” Senator Recto further says the plan is ‘illogical’ and will only be an added burden to car owners.”
So stay tuned and see how this drama plays out in Manila.
The new tag is of a style that is very plain and without the Philippines embossed onto the tag. The new “Rule” further states that no tag covers of any type may be used on the new style tags. Which sort of makes sense since no one sells them here yet. But someone will and they will be covered no matter what the Rule states. The new tags also come with super duper mounting bolts to insure the safety of your new tag.
They are trying to stop people from obscuring the tag from view with tag cover. (Good luck with that.) See if we can understand the logic. Some nefarious people cover their tag and try to obscure the tag from public view. Okay that much I understand. But changing the style of the tag to prevent this from happening instead of just banning tag covers altogether, I don’t fully comprehend.
Paul; who is normally resistant to any and all change in any form, has already preformed the Pinoy “Shoulder Shrug” and mumbled; “C’est la vie” (Such is life). Change what you can change, and what you can’t change, forget about and open a beer!
After exhausting and fruitless web searches about this new style tag I’m more confused than ever. The reasons for the changes are not clear to me, unless those rich folk who place a Philippine tag over a Euro tag to let you know how sophisticated they are, decided they look good on their smuggled imported high end cars from Europe. You’ve also seen the Euro tag under the PH tag on Japanese cars that have never been to Europe, which is easy to tell because of the Philippine Conduction sticker on the rear window. But it seems to make the owner feel more secure about themselves, but then six or seven chrome horses on the hood would have made them feel about the same way. We’ll never know. But this is where the beer comes into play.
There is nothing on the new tag denoting that you are from or even in the Philippines, and so many people here might not know where they are, but then it does say “Philippines” on the old style Rizal tag and I met people that acted like they were still in their home country.
When I lived in Puerto Rico I also wondered why that was printed on the tag of a car that was on an island and connected to no other land mass. But that falls under the category of “Greater Minds than Mine.”
I’m really not that concerned nor do I assume that the LTO is either; I bought the car the middle of February and here it is July and I’m still driving on a temporary dealers tag and they (The LTO) has no idea when the new tag will be available. Yet I’m not at all concerned, I figure some day in the far distant future someone will call or text from Car World and inform me of my tags arrival. Or more likely as I pull in for my 100,000 Kilometer service check they will be there waiting for me with years of caked on dust.
I suggest that you (The reader) look up this new rule and take what I’ve written as the ramblings of a very confused man. But know for a fact that no matter how this new rule by the LTO plays out, not one person at the LTO will be able to explain it to you. I went there and Do-dong (The head “GUY” and a friend) could not understand the rule. We shrugged our shoulders and scratched our heads in harmony and went to get a beer together.
Maybe they could outsource the tag making to a prison in the USA. Adding the workload and the increase in employed prisoners in the USA could possibly drop the USA unemployment rate to 3%, make the dollar stronger. Thus making SMB’s cheaper for the average expat.
Loren;
Would that be because the prisons here are empty? It will become one of those head scratchers that people will talk about for years, like 15 years ago the LTO mandated that all Stainless Steel Jeepney’s and owner jeeps had to be painted. So they wouldn’t be so shinny. A Guy named Wayne ran out and painted his, and scolded me for not panting mine. Congress ruled that the LTO didn’t have that power. Wayne was a tad angry. I explained that one should take no action until it plays its self out.
But the funniest LTO rule was a few years ago every driver had to purchase a Triangular Orange safety warning thingy to replace the tree branches behind your broken down car. As I renew my tag, the LTO informed me that they were “Out of Stock” That rule too went south with the preverbal duck
Same here Paul just bought a Toyota Fortuner 4×4 in Iloilo last week
The Dealer said they had a backlog of 2500 Plates with the LTO, No idea of when they will receive them from Mania said thy had 3 people answering calls from owners everyday
Any yes you must turn in your old plate when you renew funny a few years ago they did not have the stickers just another example of the Philippine Government at work or on vacation
OTP
Tom/ Roxas City
Tom;
I started laughing with the car world general manager, as we both thought it was quite funny. I promised them I’d wait for the call, and not bother them again. Really what else can you do? But I am quite excited about the new super duper anti-theft bolts and was wondering how long it will take the crooks them to steal the tag. I say 3 minutes tops. (Front and rear tag.)
Hi Paul
Seems u and I are in the same boat (oh I forgot “boat” is a term mariners hate haha)
We bought our car at the same time u did and yep still waiting
I found out via an LTO release last week that out of 30k plates to be issued only 5k are actually still in backlog
The dealers tend to want to pick up plates in batches and LTO says they should come down and pick them up
On the other hand LTO is implementing their no plate no drive policy aig 1
When I checked with my dealer miraculously the plates had arrived
So perhaps there is hope
A secondary front only LTO approved modifications are allowed to vehicles – what that means is as always up to the mindset of the local cop that pulls u over – beware on those go fast wheels u just put on haha
Hope u are having peaceful rainy season bliss up in subic my friend
Rick;
We sailors love boats as they take us away from sinking ships.
August first is the deadline? I pack a cooler of beer and head to my local LTO office, because that would be a sight worth watching, a lawn chair with a umbrella and a cold SMB. O the joy one can find in life here.
All changes to my car are factory installed, or prove that it wasn’t (LOL) I won’t tell them about my back up camera.
So your dealer had your new tag already, do those new bolts work? I figure with the new laws governing motorcycles the cops will be too busy to worry about the Kano in the new car.
Untill now i’ve been waiting for more than 8 months for plates for my “once” new motorcycle.
My car…ohhh plates ok, but the tag/sticker you need every year to be renewed…well, i got one from 2012 at least, better than nothing, “out of stock” for 2 years.
I am very excited to see how LTO will act about the new policy: No plate – no driving” starting this August.
I see thousands of vehicles every day with a temporary plate, “waiting for registration”.
What LTO haven’t been able to accomplish in years, they now have to do in 1 month. Ohhhh yeahhh…. And i still believe in Santa Claus.
Axel
I do hope they mean the temporary tag and not the tag on your car that must be turned in for the new one. Wow that would be something to see, Manila without one car on the street. A Ghost town for sure…
As I said; “Don’t worry about it.” In their infinite wisdom a solution will be found, like moving the deadline up by six months.
We’ll see my friend, until then happy motoring…
Hey Paul,
Now that your car is paid for, I figure the ATV might be getting back to the top of the list of things to buy. Was wandering, are they legal to drive on the streets there, or off road only like here. I am planning on bringing mine after all, but had no intentions of driving it on the street there. I know you said you wanted one for” walking the dog “.
Bill S;
The wife put the kibosh on that ATV idea, but as long as you keep it off the main road (The only place you will find the police) I see no trouble scooter poopin’ around your neighborhood. But don’t tell the cop I said it was okay!!! (lol)
Paul,
With all the people out of work you would think there would be no problem getting them made. But again it’s not surprising. One day a few years down the road when it’s become a distant memory you will receive that call.
Randy;
With a new car the registration is good for three years, plenty of time to wait out the new tag.
“Shoulder Shrug” .. LOL 🙂 Also known as an 0-1 (Ensign/2nd Lieutenant/”butter Bar”) salute. A good article, SCPO Paul T. Thanks.
Jose;
Standing on a pier directing a working party, one of the guys was grousing about saluting the Ensign that had walked by. I took him and we followed the Ensign watching him have to return the salute of a lot of sailors who were also working on the pier on other ships. Then I asked my seaman; “How many times did you have to salute him?”
I see your point Jefe.
Paul – Maybe LTO has a new boss? A change up from normal routine like you described sounds to me like there is a new boss at the LTO who is trying to put his personal imprint on the agency?
John;
Since 99.9% of the people in the Philippines could not name any of the last or present LTO directors, I can only conclude that you; John Reyes might have just hit the nail squarely on the head.
A thought to ponder and ponder, and ponder again.
Some say there is a special screw they use on the new tags that prevent swapping plates from one vehicle to another. Not matter what happens people will want to cover the plates though. Black car with tinted plates never get flagged down for violations so people will keep on doing that just to avoid extortion by traffic enforcers. If they want to fix the system they’ll need to fix it and not just criminalize people who are using plate covers. Normal people feel the need to avoid traffic enforcers and police all together, fix that and you’ll only have the criminals avoiding and they’ll know who to go after.
Police and traffic enforcers criminalize all people for the extra $5 pff
Alex;
I agree with you on every point you made. And one more small point I’ll add. BAN PLATE COVERS of any type and just issue (Meaning sell) the super bolt and their perceived problem would be solved.
Enforcement might work, but I really wouldn’t think so.
Hi Paul: Excellent article. Are there any fees related to this tag change? My older brother just returned from PI to the U.S. and informed me that copies of property titles are now only released through Manila to prevent fraudulent claims. However, fees are attached to this service. Do doubt, there will be waiting times.
Roselyn;
I’ll give you but one guess. The LTO said the fee was less than P. 500.00. Get in line quick before they run out. Oh I’m sorry they already have… (LOL)
Tamper proof mounting hardware. Now that sounds interesting and I don’t think it will take very long for some individuals to get around them LOL. Maybe with some metal snips, just cut the plate around the mounting screws and splice in some color coordinated metal for the part of the plate that was snipped. Remove the license plate and leave the hardware. What could be simpler than that. LOL .
Bob New York;
Tamper proof, now that is an oxymoron, the LTO is releasing no more information than that on the internet.
The Navy transferred me from Florida to San Diego CA. I of course had Florida tags on my Lincoln. I noticed that the screws on the tag cover were loose a few times.
My friend on the Base police told me why. Florida uses a single tag, whereas California has front and rear tags.
If a gang was going to steal a car in San Diego and take it to Mexico to chop it, mounting only one tag was faster.
I had the nut welded to the bolt and the head rounded. But I had to deal with removing that when they sent me to Puerto Rico.
I hate how Manila (specifically Quezon City) keeps making up laws against motorcyclist. First was that they had to stay in their blue lane. Spent millions painting and signage. Next was everyone had to have a sticker on their helment. Now its all riders wear a white helmet, no full face, have a high visibility vest with their license plate on the back and on helmet. And no passengers.
All because the police are too lazy to go after the criminals who shoot people while on back of the bike.
Don;
On the rest of the Islands it would be nice if they had a school to teach motorcycles riders traffic rules. They are not bicycles that can be ridden anywhere at any time with no regard for other traffic.
Now before this offends you I have owned motorcycles since I was 18, and stopped riding when I turned 50. I’ve had 11 from BSA’s to Harleys and my favourite was my 850 Norton. But here they have no conception of how to ride.
Hi Paul. It’s funny how different our language is, even though its the same! I now know the difference between car hood, bonnet,trunk, boot, etc! But this is the first time I’v heard “auto tag”! We call them either number plates, or registration plates. My friend bought a new car at the beginning of the year, and just received his tag/plates last month…..but still the old style! It will be interesting to see how they can implement the new law about no plates, no drive. Especially if it takes five or six months to get new plates! Back home, we have never been allowed to go on the roads with no plates, and I guess it’s the same in the US. There was one cardinal error someone wrote in their comment. They put the word “logical” and “the Philippines” in the same paragraph!
John;;
In the United States different regions have other names for the auto tag. License Plate, Number Plate, Car Tag, registration plates and others I’ve heard. As you see some are the same as yours.
I know the car part names also differ but the one you use that I don’t understand is Windscreen, which I assume keeps bugs out of the car but not rain, whereas we use the term Windshield which attempts to keep everything out of the car.
But in my section of the country (Boston) we call a traffic circle, a Round-about or Rotary. But then we drink tonic instead of soda.
The new tags were postponed last year as there was still a stock of the old tags, now they as Out Of Stock with all of them.
And you are spot on, never try to infuse logic into any situation here; it would be easier to piss into the wind. (LOL)
Paul, I’l go for tonic above soda any time….providing there’s plenty of gin with it!
John;
A Bombay Sapphire and tonic (We add ice) is a wonderful thing on a hot afternoon.
But in Boston even coke is referred to as a tonic. When I went to the southern part of the United States they tried to give me hail tonic when I ordered a cool drink. So I learned quickly to call it a soft drink, soda, or just pop.
Paul, back home it has to be Gordon’s gin, and Schweppes Tonic! Here, I have to make do with Gilby’s, but surprisingly, San Mig Premium gin is not bad! Other popular mixes are rum and Coke, and vodka and orange. The latter probably more so with the young.
John;
When I was stationed on Diego Garcia B.I.O.T. all the chiefs, Royal and American Navy shared the same building. The sundowners club would meet every day for Gin & Tonic at 17:00 on the veranda.
By the way, spelling is another oddity! You seem to have got it right and simplified it. I mean, why is there a “U” in “colour”???
John:
Harbor neighbor and so many others, I guess we’re lazy. But it drives spell check nuts.
Hi Paul,
I purchased a new Yamaha motorbike from the then “official” Yamaha dealership in Bohol in 2007. Of course, no plates, so had a “for registration” tag made. After about 8 months, the dealership notified me of my “temporary” plate number, which happened to be from an LTO office on another island. I thought that’s great, so I had a plate made up with the temporary number. That worked for a few years with the LTO registering that temp number. Then the dealership informed me that my “permanent” plate had arrived, so I gleefully affixed it to the bike and that worked fine with LTO for one year. The next year at registration time the “permanent” plate was deemed unacceptable by LTO, but the temp plate number would be just fine. So here I am 7 years into owning this bike with a locally made plastic plate sporting the temp number from 2008. Not holding my breath for the new plates.
I’m just going to USE printshop and then photoshop to make a diplomatic plate ( I’m the president of the USA now ) 🙂 going on 5 months now on my new motor , still no temp plate or tags , I did get my OR / CR says plates not available and a Autho to drive letter from lto for 200 Days … Police informed me not good enough and could issues a ticket , He did only give a warning only for me to find out no one knows what is going on with the plate number or tags ? any clues from anyone what to do ? I drove the motor from manila to Davao …. help please .. Or I could be the next president visiting the Philippines 🙂
Rich;
From Feb. until now with the dealer tag, if they stop me I’ll bring the ticket to the LTO and have them pay it. They (The Dealer( said within a few more months. I really am not going to lose sleep over it. But good luck Mr. President.