The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has issued a new guideline to ensure that license plates and official receipts/certificates of registration (OR/CR) are released on the same day that new motor vehicles are turned over to their owners.
The policy, which follows a directive from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., will be implemented nationwide and applies to all brand-new motor vehicles and motorcycles.
“This is actually a compliance with the President’s directive to us during his recent SONA that we have to ensure that the license plates and OR/CR… are released in the soonest possible time,” said LTO chief and assistant secretary Vigor Mendoza II.
Marcos had instructed the LTO, through the Department of Transportation (DOTr), to issue vehicle registrations and license plates within three days.
“The instruction is to release all of them within three days but on the part of the LTO, we assessed that the release of license plates and OR/CR could be done on the same day the newly-purchased motor vehicle is released to the owner,” Mendoza said.
“That is why we will implement it,” he said in a statement.
The new measure aims to prevent a repeat of the 11-year backlog in license plates that was resolved in June 2025.
Mendoza said the LTO has developed a system that integrates with its existing platforms to facilitate the same-day release.
“Once this memorandum circular became effective, no brand-new motor vehicle or motorcycle shall be released by the dealers without the LTO license plate/s, and OR/CR,” he said.
The new policy will take effect on Oct. 15, 2025, or as “unless otherwise extended by subsequent issuance,” the memorandum said.
The LTO will register the circular with the Office of the National Administrative Register and publish it in a newspaper of general circulation.
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