01/08/2023

Philippines government addresses huge challenge with LPR technology

Manila, Philippines and Delmenhorst, Germany

LTO Executive Director Esteban Baltazar, Minister of DOTR Jaume Bautista and Hector Villacorta of the LTO (from left to right) inspect the new licence plates. Image courtesy of Tonnjes

The Land Transportation Office (or LTO) in the Philippines has awarded a contract to Tonnjes International Group GmbH, the terms of which are to supply the state in Southeast Asia with a total of 16 million vehicle registration plates and around 15 million ID-Estix RFID windscreen and headlamp stickers by the end of 2024 - via an existing joint venture in the capital Manila.

The Philippines thus continues to rely on RFID-based technologies from the Delmenhorst company. In 2018, Tonnjes already delivered almost 3.25 million license plates and ID-Estix RFID stickers to the LTO in a first order.

Signposts for the future

"For us as a company, this order is the largest in the company's history," says Managing Director Jochen Betz, describing the cooperation with the Philippines. "Such a production volume is only possible with a local site in Manila. Fortunately, we already established this five years ago." The joint venture TTPI will be the central point of contact for Tonnjes' license plate and RFID technologies in the coming months.

Problem solving on a grand scale

The LTO's license plate and ID-Estix RFID vignettes address a problem that has plagued the government for a decade: In 2013, the Philippine government privatised license plate production, which lacked modern standards. Unfortunately, the privatisation went wrong and as a result, vehicles could either not be registered at all or drove around with homemade number plates made of cardboard, Betz recalls. "The entire personalisation and issuing system was therefore to be digitalised and set up new - under the control of the LTO. With the first order in 2017 and the installation of a high-tech production line on the LTO's premises, part of the production backlog was overcome. In 2018, we delivered the first license plates and ID-Estix RFID stickers, after which the LTO took over production."

However, the problem from 2013-2017 remained as it is estimated that there are nearly 20 million motorised two and three-wheelers in the country alone. "In addition, there are cars, trucks and other vehicles. And all of them need a modern and, above all, safe license plate," says Betz.

With this new order, in which Tonnjes was able to prevail over other international suppliers, the LTO, or rather the superior Ministry Department of Transportation, continues the successful cooperation of the past years and closes the supply gap from the years 2013-2017 with new, secure number plates and ID-Estix RFID stickers for cars and motorbikes.

Tags