History of vehicle registration plates of the Philippines

Philippine vehicle registration plates have a long history. The earliest license plates were introduced around 1912 with the introduction of Legislative Act No. 2159.
In this article, "L" stands for a letter in 1974–1980 and 1981 series plates, "X" stands for an alphanumeric symbol (in 1974–1980 license plates), "P" stands for a prefix (in 1933–1980 license plates), and "D" stands for a number (in all license plates).
Most early license plates just showed the serial number, most likely a 4 to 5-digit number and a small box on the left of the serial number which displays the 2-digit year mark, which is written downwards. This continued until 1932.
e.g. 31 44789, 31 stands for the year 1931
With the Revised Motor Vehicle Law (Act No. 3992) introduced in 1933, second-generation Philippine license plates were introduced; they can be in the format of "A-B" or "P-B", where A is an area code number (used until 1960), P is a vehicle classification prefix, and B is a 3 to 6-digit number. Sometimes single-letter suffixes were used.
Hyphens were used in separating the numbers; this was later replaced by asterisks in 1938. On the bottom of the license plate are the 2-digit year mark, the place the car is registered, and the word "P.I.", in that order (e.g. "36 MANILA P.I.", 36 stands for 1936). In 1938 the "P.I." was dropped, the place name and the year mark were simply displayed (e.g. MANILA 60, 60 stands for 1960). Prefixes were common in license plates starting in 1938. Sometimes prefixes stand for place names (e.g. "PS" stands for Pasay).
In 1970, Philippine vehicle license plates adapted a numbering format similar to Japanese license plates. It can be in a format of "DD-DD", (from 0–0 to 99–99, sometimes 00 to 09 are used) with single or double-letter suffixes. Most vehicle category prefixes are on the lower-left of the plate. For government vehicles, "RP" is displayed before the number. Year stickers were introduced in 1973.
A new license plate format was introduced for the year 1974. The format is "L DDD", "DDD L", "XX DDD" or "DDD XX", with the vehicle classification at the lower-left corner of the plate, followed by the place name (which was changed to "PILIPINAS" in 1977), and the 2-digit year marker. The initial typeface resembles the 1970 series plates. (e.g. G 582, 159 F, FE 358, 576 NK)
In 1981, the vehicle registration plate system has been revised again, taking the format of LLL-DDD. Color-coded year stickers appear for the first time in 1982, based on the license plate's color scheme (notable exceptions are in 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1993). Stickers for vehicle classification appeared in the same year. The byline at the bottom of the plate was displayed as "PILIPINAS" ("Philippines").
In January 2013, Land Transportation Office ventures the plate standardization project that will redesign the plates and will include new safety features, regions will now be indicated at the bottom of the plate number with a bar code at the top left of the plate. The color of the new plate is changed to black on white with the new format LLL-DDDD for light motor vehicles and LL-DDDDD for motorcycles.
In July 2018, the Land Transportation Office released a newly updated plate simplifying the 2014 series. The new font of the plate is FE-Schrift. The plate no longer indicates the region below it, instead, the first prefix of the plate will indicate the region of where the vehicle is registered, bringing back the 1981 license plate series alphabetical designation. At the right bottom of the plate is where the small QR code is located.
In 1938, prefixes were common on license plates. Prefixes can be combined (e.g. RPTR, which denotes a government-owned trailer). Most of the prefixes took the form of stickers starting in 1981.
I & O are not used to avoid confusion with the numbers 1 & 0, used only for private motorcycles. Q is a special letter and is not used on regular plate circulation or used only for motorcycle-tricycle for hire. But these Letters are now used as middle or last letters, or both for Manila Plates since 2009. O & Q was also used For provincial plates in Central Visayas in the middle of 2010. (e.g. YJO-248, YJQ-768)
From April 13, 2014, to June 30, 2016, the plate number letters are all the same throughout the Philippines in a series and combination, since the region where it is registered is now displayed in the new license plates at the bottom part.
Registered vehicles from July 1, 2016, and beyond will have the same alphabetical designation as in the 1981 license plate series.
Private (plate series with approximate year issued):
I, O and Q were originally excluded to avoid confusion with the numbers "1" & "0". But with the exhaustion of the "Z" series in 2009, they were used by reverting to the old "N" series. A new serial scheme was implemented using these characters, instead of the third letter coming into series (e.g. after ZAA-999 has been reached, ZAB-101) the middle letter is the one being replaced (e.g. after NAI-999 series has been exhausted, NBI-101 will follow.) These include combinations for public utility vehicles (middle letters V-Y) and trailers (middle letters U and Z), which were repurposed for private vehicles. After all the possible combinations with I, O and Q as the third letter for the same starting letter have been used, I, O and Q are used as middle letters and the third letter is being replaced (e.g. After NIA-999 has been used, NIB-101 will follow), if the reverted letter is exhausted (e.g. After PQZ-999 has been used, TAI-101 will follow). During 2013, some letter combinations (e.g. FJB-101) were also used in Metro Manila.
E.g.: NFD-838, PAX-329, PGU-909, TAX-798, TFN-697, TSB-466, UGE-522, UTH-468, WBU-389, WSD-220, XAF-789, XDG-289, XHK-537, XJA-993, XJJ-218, XKW-594, XLA-475, XMS-907, XNL-812, XPZ-901 XSC-769, ZCZ-679, NUI-205, NJO-542, NBQ-217, NIA-101, NOR-686, NQZ-544, PXI-296, PSO-338, PQQ-332, PIK-342, POC-902, PQL-497, TEI-517, TZO-390, TSQ-486, TIT-120, TOL-979, TQH-924, UMI-615, UFO-392, UHQ-571, UIP-207, UOG-874, UQF-281, WAI-365, WOO-911, WEQ-451, WIC-143, WOP-723, WQL-856
Special Issue: EBX-578, FJB-357, HBG-257
Private (plate series with approximate year issued):
Private (plate series with approximate year issued):
Private (plate series with approximate year issued):
Public (plate series with approximate year issued):
*Vehicles registered from July 1, 2016, onwards are currently using private plates (white) since yellow plates are still in production. Note: Plate Numbers: with N P T U with V W X Y using the increments of I O Q are private plates.
Public (plate series with approximate year issued):
*Vehicles registered from July 1, 2016, onwards currently uses private plates (white) since yellow plates are in production.
*Trailer Plates with increments of "I", "O", and "Q" series were commonly used for private vehicles from 2009 to 2014.
*Trailers registered from 2016 onwards currently use 6-Numbered plates as trailer plates are not yet in production.
*Public Trailers registered from 2016 onwards currently use 6-Numbered plates as trailer plates are not yet in production.
Government (plate series with approximate year issued):
Note: Government plate numbers from SLJ-101 (including increments of "I", "O" and "Q") up to SZZ-999 were skipped.
Government (new plate series with approximate region and year issued):
*Note: Electric, and hybrid vehicles plates first letter will still indicate the region of where the vehicle is registered. Electric vehicle plates second letter will be from A to M, while the third letter will be the following; V W X Y Z. Hybrid vehicle plates second letter will be from N to Z, while the third letter will be the following; V W X Y Z. Electric and Hybrid vehicle plates will have the green color code scheme.
*Note: Vintage vehicle plates first letter will still indicate the region of where the vehicle is registered. The second letter will be T while the third letter will be X Y Z. The vintage vehicle plate will contain the words "Vintage Vehicle" alongside the vehicle model year at the bottom of the plate.
* Format DDD-LLL (e.g. 123-NAA & 456-NOA) ** Format L-DDD-LL (e.g. N-123-AA & N-456-OA) *** Format L-DDDD-L (e.g. N-1234-A & N-5678-O) **** Format LL-DDDD (e.g. NA-1234)
* Format DDD-LLL (e.g. 123-NAA) ** Format L-DDD-LL (e.g. N-123-AA)
* Format L-DDDD-L (e.g. N-1234-A)
** Format LL-DDDD (e.g. NA-1234)
Note: For 2016 to 2025, Updated Motorcycle Plate Numbers, Motorcycle and Tricycle Plates have the same 3 digit number and 3 digit letter format. For 2023 to present, Motorcycle and Tricycle Plates have modified the 1 digit letter, 3 digit number and 2 last digit letter format. the same For 2024 to present, Updated Private Tricycle Plate Numbers have modified 1 first digit letter, 4 digit number and last 1 digit letter combination, while the Updated Public Tricycle Plate numbers have 2 first digit letters and 4 last digit numbers, similar to the Conduction Stickers Issued from 2003 to 2017.
* Uses MV file numbers or Temporary Plates since White plates are in production. ** Uses MV file numbers or Temporary Plates since Yellow plates are in production. *** Format DDD-LLL (e.g. 123-NAA) **** Format L-DDD-LL (e.g. N-123-AA)***** Format L-DDDD-L (e.g. N-1234-A) ****** Format LL-DDDD (e.g. NA-1234) *******
Government (motorcycle plate series with approximate year issued):
Government (new motorcycle and plate series with approximate region and year issued):
* Format DDD-LLL (e.g. 123-SAA)
*Vehicles registered from 2016 onwards are currently uses MV file numbers or Temporary Plates since government white plates with FE-Schrift in red colored font type are still in production. ** Format DDD-LLL (e.g. 123-SAA)