Vehicle registration plates in the Philippines, commonly known as license plates (), are issued and regulated by the Land Transportation Office (LTO), a government agency under the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
History
thumb|The then-new license plate designs first issued in 2014
In 2016, the LTO began issuing "virtual plates" as a temporary measure to address the backlog of physical license plates. New vehicles were given a virtual identifier consisting of a combination of alphanumeric symbols, which facilitated the release of permanent plates once they became available. In August 2017, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) selected the winning bidder under the government's "Moving Forward Program" to address the backlog of 3.4 million plates covering July 2016 to December 2017.
thumb|Proposed design for automobile license plates in 2013
In January 2018, the Supreme Court of the Philippines ordered the release of license plates that had been held due to restraining orders affecting the modernization program. Full-scale distribution of the new plates was expected by mid-February 2018. The LTO received the plate-making machines that month and installed them in a new production facility. The new plates were released nationwide beginning in July 2018. Under this series, the first letter of the license plate indicates the place of registration, following the same designation system used in the 1981 series.
Current plate design specifications
Under the current system, plates for four-wheeled vehicles follow the format ABC 1234 (three letters followed by four digits). Motorcycle plates initially used the format 123 ABC, but as these combinations were exhausted, the LTO introduced new formats such as A 123 BC, AB 123 C, 1 ABC 23, A 1234 C, A 1C 234, and A 12C 34. It is unclear whether this expansion of formats was part of the agency's original plan or a response to an unexpectedly rapid depletion of available combinations. In all cases, the first letter, regardless of its position, indicates the region where the motorcycle was registered. The LTO has not stated that the current set of formats is final, and additional combinations may be introduced as needed.
The replacement plates registered in the National Capital Region with two letters followed by four digits (and vice-versa) may be also required by the LTO for motorcycle plates, replacing the older white-green plates with white-black plates (e.g. 1234 AB and AB 1234). Also, this action is to address the backlog plates of motorcycle riders in several regional offices nationwide. However, for motorcycle owners who have registered their plates with the format of two letters followed by five digits (e.g. AB 12345) between 2014 and 2016, the newer system shall be generated by the office.
Plate number dimensions and typefaces
The current license plates for four-wheeled vehicles measure 390 mm wide and 140 mm high, while motorcycle plates released since 2020 measure 235 mm wide and 135 mm high. The characters are stamped on an aluminum plate and coated with reflective paint. In 2018, the Land Transportation Office adopted FE-Schrift as the official typeface for license plates because its characters are designed to be difficult to alter. Plates issued since 2018 no longer display a separate region code (as that can be already inferred from the first two characters of plate number, and for diplomatic vehicles above 1000 the first three for the entity it was assigned to).
Before 1981, the Philippines used the North American standard measuring for cars and trucks.
Registration area prefixes
When the revised plate design was introduced in 2018, virtual and temporary plates issued from July 2016 to December 2017 under the 2014 series were updated to use the new alphabetical designation.
This reintroduced the scheme used prior to the 2014 series, in which the first letter of the plate number indicates the region where the vehicle was initially registered, with slight modifications and reallocation of certain codes to accommodate newer regions and those requiring additional allocations. For example, the former Southern Tagalog region (Region IV), which was later split into Calabarzon (Region IV-A) and Mimaropa (Region IV-B) in 2002, retained its legacy codes, with Calabarzon using D and Mimaropa using V. The Cordillera Administrative Region and Caraga each received distinct codes, Y (formerly used in Central Visayas) and Z (formerly used in Metro Manila), respectively.
thumb|A government-owned [[patient transport vehicle with a red license plate beginning with N]]
The letter S is reserved for government-owned vehicles, including those owned by government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs). In cases where a government vehicle was donated, acquired from private entities, or previously registered to private individuals, its plate may not begin with S despite being marked in red. In some cases, the vehicle may also retain its private plate.
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|+ license plate number prefixes since 2018