Group bats for one-time stenciling for vehicles

It is high time for lawmakers and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to make stenciling in vehicles’ registration a one-time thing, the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) said Monday.

Augusto Lagman, AAP president, said one-time vehicle stenciling has a number of advantages since the practice is a source of corruption.

Owners of brand new cars renew their registration after three years and every year thereafter. The renewal process involves LTO personnel getting a stencil of the car’s engine number.

“One-time stenciling is sufficient. It is not easy to get to that number especially with new model cars. It has become a source of corruption in the sense that one has to pay somebody to do it,” Lagman said.

“People say that there are times when these people just carve numbers on soap,” he added.

Lagman said one-time stenciling should be done on the very first instance a vehicle is registered.

The AAP is also open to the proposal of Sen. Jose Victor Ejercito to make vehicle registration online.

Lagman said the LTO should start researching on how online vehicle registration can be done.

“Online vehicle registration is more convenient for car owners. It will also eliminate fixers in the process,” he said.

Earlier, Ejercito filed a resolution urging the LTO to study online vehicle registration.

The lawmaker noted that vehicle registration should only take an hour at the most but “in reality, the public spends an average of two to four days to register a motor vehicle due to the inefficiency and inadequacy of LTO employees and facilities.”