MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) started yesterday the long-delayed release of license plates for motor vehicles registered from July 2016.

A total of 231,332 plates are set to be released to vehicle owners through the LTO district offices and authorized dealers.

LTO chief Edgar Galvante said the license plates are enough to cover the requirements from July to December 2016.

Galvante, however, said the release of the plates would be gradual and would be announced in the coming months.

“We ask the vehicle owners to wait for their notification. We do not want them to rush to the LTO district offices only to find out that their plates are not yet there,” he said.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said motorists who registered their vehicles from 2013 to June 2016 would not receive their license plates yet as these are under a different contract from another supplier.

Galvante said they are still awaiting resolution of the Commission on Audit (COA)’s notice of disallowance to address the backlog from 2014 to 2016.

The backlog from February 2014 to June 30, 2016 is pegged at 5.8 million motor vehicle plates.

“We are positive that the COA decision will come out soon,” Galvante said.

The COA has ruled that the contract with Filipino-Dutch consortium J. Knieriem B.V. Goes and Power Plates Development Concept Inc. did not follow procedures prescribed under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

The winning contractor still has deliverables of more than 10 million plates, which Galvante said is more than enough to address the backlog of the past administration.

On motorcycle plates, Galvante said these would be issued as soon as the bill for larger plates is approved by Congress.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade appealed for understanding from car owners as he said they should take into consideration the capability of the LTO to deliver the license plates.

Tugade said they are looking to manufacture and issue the more than 2.2 million license plates backlog since the start of the administration by the third quarter of next year.

He said once the backlog is addressed, he wants the immediate release of license plates to new vehicle owners upon purchase.

He said the DOTr is delivering on President Duterte’s campaign promise to address the issue on license plates.

The administration moved to produce license plates by acquiring its own plant to avoid the repeat of past problems, which resulted in the more than seven million backlog.