Confiscation of license plates prohibited: LTO chief

FILE: TRAFFIC BUILDUP. Motorists endure heavy traffic on Edsa northbound, near the Guadalupe MRT-3 station around 11 a.m. Thursday (March 31, 2022). To address this, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has proposed several new traffic schemes and modifications to government work hours to help ease vehicular traffic in the National Capital Region. (PNA photo by Ben Briones)

MANILA – The confiscation of license plates or “baklas plaka” when vehicles are apprehended is prohibited, Land Transportation Office chief Jay Art Tugade said Friday.

Tugade issued the reminder to LTO enforcers and deputized agents after receiving complaints from the public, citing Joint Administrative Order No. 2014-01.

“In all cases where the penalty includes the confiscation, suspension or revocation of a driver’s license or student permit as well as the suspension or revocation of the registration of a motor vehicle or impounding the motor vehicle, and the same cannot be immediately implemented, the driver’s license, the student permit, or motor vehicle as the case may be shall be put on alarm until the proper penalty may be implemented,” the order read.

In a news release Friday, the LTO said Tugade issued a memorandum prohibiting the confiscation of license plates.

He said LTO enforcers and deputized agents should not remove the licensed plates unless the apprehended vehicles are impounded.

“To avoid further confusion, all LTO enforcement personnel and its deputized agents shall be prohibited from confiscating motor vehicle license plates in lieu of the physical impoundment of the apprehended motor vehicles,” the statement read.