LTO: Plastic drivers’ licenses delayed anew due to paper work issues

An LTO employee shows some driver’s licenses that have yet to be distributed. (File Photo of the INQUIRER / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA)

MANILA, Philippines — The promised plastic cards for driver’s licenses are facing delays, as they still need to overcome technical hurdles before becoming available to the public, Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Atty. Vigor Mendoza II said on Monday.

The LTO said earlier that the Philippine Society of Medicine for Drivers donated four million plastic cards to print licenses, which were expected to be delivered this month.

But in a radio interview, Mendoza explained that the donated cards would still need to undergo verification processes by various government agencies – a procedure that could take two to three weeks.

The LTO Chief said the donated cards require inspection by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), the House Committee on Transportation, and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

“As of now, we still don’t have the cards because…we are still waiting for the OSG’s opinion so that everything would be smoothed out…so we won’t have problems. We are just waiting for that so we can be given the green light as far as the four million [card] donations are concerned,” Mendoza said in a mix of Filipino and English over at Radyo630.

Aside from this, the cards would also need to go through Congress, through its Committee on Transportation, so that the “concerns of all sectors would be addressed,” the LTO Chief noted.

Moreover, the donated cards must be inspected by the DOST for approval.

“All of our cards, per batch, go through the DOST where they will (inspect) the thickness, weight, the quality of the material…it would also need a proof of concept…and the security code, they will also review that,” Mendoza explained.

The LTO Chief downplayed these processes as formalities that are required to “smooth things out.”

Mendoza assured the public that they would recommend an “agency to agency” procurement for the driver’s license cards through government printing offices to speed the processes up.

But he likewise cautioned that even if the four million donated cards would be made available for circulation, the LTO would still be short of plastic cards as it would require around 10 to 12 million cards for 2024.

In light of this, the LTO Chief said that Filipinos whose driver’s licenses expired in November and December last year and January this year may still use their licenses until April 2024.

“I am very confident that before April, we already have the cards,” Mendoza said.

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