New LTO announcement: Legal use of Improvised Plates allowed into 2025 and until further notice
As we speak, many motorists still have improvised plates installed on their vehicles. This is due to the fact(s) that the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has had to deal with production delays, (what looks to be) red tape, vehicle owners still not claiming their already-available plates, and the dilly-dallying of plate distribution that the agency itself is doing if only to expedite the entire process. In a recent announcement, the use of such plates has been made legal for the time being and until further notice.
LTO indefinitely extends deadline for use of improvised plates
Photo: Land Transportation Office
The original plan was to allow the use of improvised plates until the end of this year: December 31, 2024. However, it seems that some problems related to production and/or the distribution of the actual license plates to vehicle owners still exist, and this prompted the LTO to backpedal a little bit and extend the legality of using the “self-made” plates as was originally laid out in Memorandum Circular VDM-2024-2721 which sets the guideline on the use of improvised plates for motor vehicles and motorcycles.
Photo: Land Transportation Office
This is, as we can see in the photo directly above, is not the first “extension” of and for the legality of “improv” plates. It has always been a problem for many vehicle owners and despite the end-of-year extension, citizens sought more time for them to secure their respective plates.
As of November 27 this year, Assec Mendoza issued another memorandum circular reminding all regional directors and other officials of the LTO that the deferment of the implementation of the memorandum circular (along with another MC that deals with a different matter altogether) was extended until further notice.
“In the best interest of the service and to give the motor vehicle and motorcycle dealers an ample time to have the plates distributed to the respective owners, the Memorandum dated 02 September 2024 entitled ‘Deferment of Memorandum dated 30 July 2024 re Deferment of Implementation of Memorandum Circular No. VDM-2024-2721 and Memorandum Circular No. VDM-2024-2722’ is hereby extended until further notice,” the November 27 memorandum circular read.
Photo: Land Transportation Office
Given this bit of news, it’s very safe to say that though it has been addressed, the overall problem around license plates has not yet been solved. We’ve always lauded the LTO‘s efforts to finally rid us of this problem, but as it stands, they along with all of us in the motoring public just need time, and a lot more of it, if we’re to be honest.
Do you still use an improvised plate on your motor vehicle or motorcycle? What are your thoughts? An extension is good, right? But is it really just another band-aid solution?
