BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Land Transportation Office (LTO-CAR) registered more than forty thousand motor vehicles in the different parts of the region over the past two years and a quarter or since the onset of dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Based on the data obtained from the LTO-CAR, there were some 20,429 motor vehicles registered in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, 20,328 motor vehicles registered in the succeeding year, while there were some 1,739 motor vehicles were registered in the first quarter of this year.
Further, there were also 56 new government motor vehicles registered in the LTO-CAR in 2020, 93 new government vehicles were registered in 2021 while 25 new government motor vehicles were registered in the first quarter of this year.
LTO-CAR insiders claim that more than 80 percent of the registered private and government motor vehicles during the past 2 years and a quarter have been registered in the Baguio and Benguet areas.
For his part, LTO-CAR regional director Francis Ray Almora explained that most of the private vehicles registered during the aforesaid period were motorcycles because of the necessity for people to be able to easily move around during the implementation of the series of lockdowns where most of these were used for food delivery, among other purposes.
While there was a significant increase in the number of motorcycles registered during the pandemic, Almora claimed that the number of 4-wheel motor vehicles registered decreased although it is starting to move up due to the easing up of the community quarantine restrictions.
According to him, the LTO-CAR regional and district offices are transitioning to the Land Transportation Management System (LTMs) thus there are some glitches being encountered by the clients when transacting with the said offices, and he asks for patience and understanding from clients because the agency is doing its best to adjust to the birth pains for them to sustain the delivery of quality services.
He admitted there are some backlogs in their daily transactions but efforts are being done by the agency to satisfy the needs of their clients in terms of the issuance of driver’s license and registration of motor vehicles to prevent them from being apprehended while travelling on the road enroute to their desired destinations.
Almora is the chairperson of the LTO’s steering committee for the effective and efficient roll out of the LTMS in the various regional and district offices of the agency as part of modernizing the operations of the agency and to conform with the aim of the government for the digitalization of services as part of the efforts to prevent further surges in COVID-19 cases in the country.
He assured concerned stakeholders that the LTO-CAR can effectively and efficiently cater to the needs of its clients as soon as officials and employees had already adjusted to the implementation of the LTMS among their ranks.
