Following the delivery of more plastic cards, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) rescheduled the renewal of expired driver’s licenses and will no longer extend their validity, as announced earlier.
Instead, driver’s licenses that expired between April 1 and April 30 must be renewed by Oct. 31, the LTO said in a memorandum on Thursday.
For those that expired from May 1 to May 30, the renewal dates are from Nov. 1 to Nov. 30, while licenses from June 1 to June 30 must be renewed by Dec. 31.
“If they fail to renew the driver’s license based on the schedules that we have given, the driver’s license is automatically deemed as expired so we call on our [countrymen] to follow our schedule on time,” LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II said in a press briefing.
By March 2024, Mendoza said the LTO would have already addressed the 5.2 million backlog in driver’s licenses caused by a shortage in plastic cards earlier this year.
How to apply for a license
A driver’s license is the required document needed for someone to be able to drive a vehicle in the Philippines. Getting a driver’s license and driving is not a right but a privilege enjoyed by those who are fit to drive.
A non-professional driver’s license allows holders to operate vehicles under restriction codes 1 (motorbikes or motorized tricycles), 2 (motor vehicle up to 4500-kilogram gross weight of a vehicle or GVW), and 4 (automatic transmission up to 4500 kg GVW).
Here’s how you can apply for a license. — with reports from Jane Bautista, PDI
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