LTO: Supply problem for motorcycle license plates looms

With the growing number of people buying motorcycles, the Land Transportation Office admitted Monday that it faces a possible supply shortage of license plates for the two-wheeled vehicles. LTO chief Alberto Suansing made this admission even as he assured motorists his office's supply of security paper is starting to stabilize. "May problema sa amin ang supply ng motorcycle (license) plates. Maraming mga bumibili ng motorsiklo. Noong nakaraang taon, 2009, dalawang milyon na motorsiklo meron tayo (We face a possible problem regarding the supply of license plates for motorcycles, especially with the rising number of motorcycle purchases. Last year alone there were two million registered motorcycles in the country)," Suansing said in an interview on dzBB radio. He also lamented there had been many accidents involving motorcycles, many of the cases involving the drivers' lack of caution. Citing data from his office, Suansin said many get killed or injured because they did not wear the proper devices such as helmets. "Ginagawa natin, meron kaming education program na nagpapaalala [na] magsuot ng helmet ... Ang motorsiklo parang sasakyan na apat ang gulong (What we are doing is that we have an education program to remind motorcycle riders to wear safety devices like helmets. Motorcycles should be treated like four-wheeled vehicles)," he said. Meanwhile, Suansing said the supply of security paper used for LTO documents should start to stabilize in the coming weeks. He said his agency already acquired the security paper used in making receipts. "Ang resibo, meron, ang supply ay naisaayos namin. Ang sticker natin nag-stabilize na rin ang supply (Our supplies of receipts and stickers are stabilizing)," he said. He said motorists who are still without such receipts should text his office at 0918-9447951, and include in the text messages the plate numbers of their vehicles and where they had the vehicles registered. Suansing said the LTO earlier had potential supply problems with security paper due to their failure to hold a bidding for the procurement of official paper forms. — RSJ, GMANews.TV