A lawmaker on Thursday requested the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to include old motorcycles in the coverage of its recent memorandum circular providing a three-year registration validity. In a letter addressed to Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary and LTO officer-in-charge (OIC) Hector Villacorta, 1-RIDER PARTYLIST Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez said he has received numerous requests for the inclusion of old motorcycles in the coverage of Memorandum Circular No. JMT-2023-2395, as it would reduce annual registration costs and would not just be limited to brand new motorcycles. Under Memorandum Circular No. JMT-2023-2395, the initial registration of new motorcycles including those with engine displacement of 200 cubic centimeters (cc) and below shall be valid for three years. Under previous guidelines, only motorcycles with engine displacement of 201cc and above were entitled to have a three-year registration validity based on Republic Act 4136 (Land Transportation and Traffic Code) and Republic Act 11032 (Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act). Gutierrez said it would be beneficial to include old motorcycles in the coverage as they are being used as motorcycle taxis and deliveries such as Grab, Lalamove, Joyride, Move It, Food Panda and Toktok. ‘Isa pa, income generating din ito sa panig ng LTO dahil marami na ang hindi nagpaparehistro dahil sa kakulangan ng budget, lalo na yung mga ‘kagulong’ natin sa mga probinsiya. Pero kung papayagan sila sa napakagandang hakbanging ito ng LTO ay maraming lumang motorsiklo ang mai-engganyo na magparehistro (This is also an income-generating opportunity on the part of LTO because a lot of motorcycle riders are not registering due to lack of budget, especially those in the provinces. But if the LTO would allow this, then a lot of those who own old motorcycles would be encouraged to register),” he said. The lawmaker also requested the LTO to provide the specifics of the guidelines of the memorandum circular, particularly the criteria in gauging the coverage years of the registrants, noting that this would be helpful in analyzing the feasibility of bracketing its limitations in terms of year model. According to LTO data, the owners of at least 2 million motorcycles with an engine displacement of 200cc and below will benefit from the new policy in 2023.

Source: Philippines News Agency