DOTr Failed To Deliver P2-Billion License Plates – COA

The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the Department of Transportation (DoTr) over its failure to deliver P2.159 billion worth of license plates to registered car and motorcycle owners.

In its 2020 annual audit report on the DoTr, the COA noted that out of the 12,771,002 new motorcycle (MC) plates procured by the registrants from 2014 to 2020, only 4,650,165 were delivered to them as of Dec. 31, 2020, leaving a balance of 8,120,837 plates.

Meanwhile, out of the 3,413,624 motor vehicle (MV) replacement plates procured by registered car owners since 2015, only 781,322 were delivered as of the end of 2020, leaving a balance of 2,632,302.

The COA said this was despite the strict collection of payment from the registrants by the Land Transportation Office (LTO), an agency under DoTr.

“The registrants have paid P120/(piece) of MC plates and P450/pair of replacement MV plates. Therefore, LTO already collected at least P974,500,440 and P1,184,535,900, respectively, or a total of P2,159,036,340 for MV/MC license plates which remained undelivered to the registrants as of audit date,” the COA said.

The issuance of new MV and MC license plates to registrants was part of the LTO’s implementation of the previous administration’s P3.8-billion Motor Vehicle License Plate Standardization Program (MVLPSP).

The implementation of the program had undergone legal hurdles after the COA issued a notice of disallowance in 2015 on the LTO’s purchase of MV and MC plates amounting to P477.9 million from a joint venture supplier due to alleged violations of government procurement rules.

The Supreme Court in 2018, however, affirmed the legality of the procurement deal and ordered the lifting of the temporary restraining order (TRO) on the distribution of the plates to the registrants.

The implementation of the MVLPSP also suffered further delays due to the termination of some contracts and changes in specifications, particularly of the MC plates, to comply with Republic Act No. 11235 or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act of 2019.

“While the audit team acknowledges that the change in the MC license plates’ specifications brought by the passage of law is beyond the control of the LTO management, the undelivered replacement MV plates still indicates lapses in the performance by the LTO management of one of its mandates, thus, depriving the registrants of their right to receive the plates they have paid for and affecting the efficient apprehension of the traffic violators,” the COA said.

In a reply, incorporated in the audit report, the DoTr said that as of June 7, 2021, there were 790,725 pairs of replacement MV plates delivered to the district offices for distribution to the dealers and issuance to the registered owners.

The DoTr said it is also prioritizing the production of new MC plates with specifications compliant with RA 11235.

“The commitment of management to fasttrack the production of the backlog MC plates shall be monitored by the audit team,” the COA stated in a rejoinder.