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Vehicle license plates in the Philippines are issued and regulated by the Land Transportation Office, a government agency under the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
History
In January 2013, the Land Transportation Office began a license plate standardization project by issuing plates with modern security features, including holograms and bar codes. They also planned to slowly phase out the old 1981 plate format. In the current format, the LTO issues LLL-DDDD plates (where L represents a letter and D represents a one-digit number) for four-wheel vehicles and DDD-LLL/L-DDD-LL plates for motorcycles.
In 2016, the LTO issued "virtual plates" as a temporary measure to address the backlog in physical license plates. New vehicles were issued a virtual identification consisting of a combination of alphanumeric symbols, which will make it easier for the LTO to release the permanent license plates once they were available.[1] In August 2017, the Department of Transportation selected the winning bidder under the government's "Moving Forward Program" to reduce the backlog of 3.4 million plates spanning from July 2016 to December 2017. In January 2018, the Supreme Court ordered the release of license plates held due to restraining orders saddling the plate modernization program. It was expected that the distribution of new plates would commence at full swing by mid-February 2018. The machines were delivered to the LTO in February 2018 and were installed in a new plate making facility. The new license plates were released in July 2018 throughout the country. Under this new plate series, the first letter of the license plate will determine where the vehicle is registered. This is the same designation that was implemented during the 1981 series.[2]
Current plate design specifications
Plate number dimension and font style
The current version of the license plates measure 390 mm wide and 140 mm high, while current motorcycle plates released since 2020 measure 235 mm wide and 135 mm high. The characters are stamped on an aluminum plate, which is then painted with reflective paint. FE-Schrift was chosen as the font to be used on license plates in 2018 as the characters are designed to be difficult to modify.[3]
Registration area prefixes
After the release of the new plate number design in 2018, all virtual and temporary plates that were issued from July 2016 to December 2017 using the 2014 series design were updated to 2018's alphabetical designation.[4][5] The first letter in the 2018 automobile plate number design represents the prefix, which denotes the region where the vehicle was registered. The letter S is used to indicate a government-owned vehicle.
| Prefix | Region |
|---|---|
| B | Cagayan Valley |
| C, R, W | Central Luzon |
| D, O | Calabarzon |
| E | Bicol Region |
| F | Western Visayas |
| G | Central Visayas |
| H | Eastern Visayas |
| I, A* (*motorcycles only) | Ilocos Region |
| J | Zamboanga Peninsula, Bangsamoro |
| K | Northern Mindanao |
| L | Davao Region |
| M | Soccsksargen |
| N, P, Q, T, U, X | National Capital Region |
| V | Mimaropa |
| Y | Cordillera Administrative Region |
| Z | Caraga |
Vehicle classification by color scheme (2018 design)
| Pattern | Color | Class | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PBC 1234
123PBC P123BC |
Black text on white background | Private vehicles | Private vehicles, not for commercial use |  
|
| PBV 1234 123PVBP123VB | Green text on white background | Electric/hybrid vehicles | Private electric and/or hybrid vehicles, not for commercial use |  
|
| PBC 1234
123PBC P123BC |
Black text on Yellow background | Public utility vehicles |
Public utility vehicles and other for-hire vehicles (e.g. commercial trucks, public transport buses, taxis and jeepneys.) | |
| SBC 1234
123SBC S123BC |
Red text on white background | Government vehicles |
Vehicles for official government use (eg; police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks). |  
|
| 000 0000 | Blue text on white background | Diplomatic vehicles | Vehicles in diplomatic use
|
|
Vehicle classification by second and third letter
The second letter on the number plate classifies special types of vehicles, such as trailers, electric, hybrid, and vintage vehicles.
| Classification | Position of letter assignment | Example | Color |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private Trailers | Second letter is U | NUA 1234 | Black text on white background |
| Electric vehicle | Second letter may be from A to M
Third letter may be the following: V, W, X, Y, Z |
NHV 1234
NIV 5678 NGV 9012 |
Green text on white background |
| Hybrid vehicle | Second letter may be from N to Z
Third letter may be the following: V, W, X, Y, Z |
JNW 4321
CRW 8765 NNV 2109 |
Green text on white background |
| Vintage vehicle | Last two letters are the following: TX, TY, TZ | NTX 9876
BTY 5432 GTZ 1098 |
Black text on white background with byline. (e.g. vintage vehicle 1960) |
| Classification | Position of letter assignment | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Electric vehicle | Second letter may be from V, W, X, Y, Z
Third letter may be the following: A to M |
D123VB
J209XK N124YM |
| Hybrid vehicle | Second letter may be from V, W, X, Y, Z
Third letter may be the following: N to Z |
N583ZZ
C789WO G897VQ |
| Vintage vehicle | Last two letters are the following: TX, TY, TZ | P123TX
N921TY K388TZ |
Motorcycle classification by color strip and position
Motorcycle registration plates released since 2020 features color-coded strips to indicate the region where they are registered, in addition to the registration area prefixes.[6]
| Strip color | Strip position | Region | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | - | National Capital Region |
|
| Pink | Top | Cordillera Administrative Region | 
|
| Bottom | Caraga | 
| |
| Green | Top | Ilocos Region | 
|
| Bottom | Eastern Visayas | 
| |
| Gray | Top | Bicol Region | 
|
| Bottom | Northern Mindanao | 
| |
| Blue | Top | Central Luzon | 
|
| Bottom | Davao Region | 
| |
| Purple | Top | Calabarzon | 
|
| Bottom | Western Visayas | 
| |
| Orange | Top | Mimaropa | 
|
| Bottom | Central Visayas | 
| |
| Red | Top | Cagayan Valley | 
|
| Bottom | Zamboanga Peninsula | 
| |
| Brown | Bottom | Soccsksargen | 
|
Special plate number designs
High-ranking government plates
These plates are reserved for top government officials of the Republic of the Philippines, and have the same paint scheme as private vehicles.[7]