HOUNDED by delays that caused backlogs to pile up, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) finally found a simple but certainly lasting solution to the perennial problem of the supply for plastic cards being used as driver’s licenses. The agency’s solution – go digital.
In lieu of the plastic driver’s license, LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza said that the agency is seriously considering the use of e-licenses as alternatives to the physical driver’s license card following a writ of preliminary injunction issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court which halted the delivery of plastic cards.
“Kung may electronic licensing na tayo it could be the primary license to be used, baka hindi na kailangan ng plastic cards. Malaking katipiran sa gobyerno. Ordinary cell phone will do. Wala nang special gadget na kailangan. Lalabas na ‘yan through the internet,” Mendoza said shortly after a congressional hearing called for by the House committee on Transportation.
Manifesting “proof on how determined the LTO is to put an end to the long-standing backlog,” Mendoza said that they have already set a pilot run by the third quarter of the current year.
Depleted Plastic Supply
According to Atty. Mendoza, LTO would soon run out of plastic cards for printing driver’s licenses, as its backlog stands at over three million.
Mendoza clarified though that they still have 137,945 remaining plastic cards which would only be enough for less than two weeks.
“Ang utilization rate natin is around 15,000 a day… At 137,000, this would last us around 10 working days… We are now in paper license cards,” Mendoza was quoted as saying to reporters in an ambush interview.
When asked how the agency plans to allocate the remaining supply, the LTO chief said that he has already issued an instruction to all district offices to prioritize issuance of the remaining plastic license cards to the overseas Filipino workers (OFW) –“Our priority is the OFWs. We instruct the district offices to reiterate that whatever cards are left, prioritize OFWs.”
Tapping Gov’t Printers
To address the backlog and cope with the growing demand for plastic licenses, Mendoza said that they are pursuing an agency-to-agency procurement for the 6.5 million backlog in the plastic license cards.
According to him, the LTO has formally asked three other government agencies to submit proposals for the supply of plastic cards – the National Printing Office (NPO), the APO Production Unit, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Once a memorandum of agreement is signed, the first batch of 500,000 license cards are expected to be delivered two weeks later – “We hope to sign contract siguro by the end of the month,” Mendoza told reporters.
LTO however could only wish that NPO and APO would not follow BSP which declined.
What Went Before
With an almost depleted supply of plastic cards, the Office of the Solicitor General asked the Court of Appeals to issue a temporary restraining order that would effectively enable the delivery of the remaining three million plastic cards from Banner Plasticards Inc.
Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 125 in August last year issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Banner Plasticard Inc. which won the bidding for the supply of plastic cards.
The TRO was issued based on a petition filed by Allcard Inc., the previous supplier of license cards to the LTO.
Allcard, the previous supplier of driver’s license cards, lost last year’s bidding to supply plastic driver’s licenses.
Unlike the other TROs, the new writ of preliminary injunction will remain in effect until the court reaches a final decision or issues a new order that withdraws the injunction. This could occur through a motion for reconsideration or a reversal by the Court of Appeals, Mendoza said.
Miscalculated Demand
The LTO tried addressing the issue of the unavailability of plastic ID cards last year by pilot-testing the implementation of what Mendoza then referred to as temporary solutions – at least until after the court rendered its decision.
One of those options embarks on reverting to the issuance of driver’s licenses printed on a bond paper – a practice that drew flak when it first tried implementing.
Another option that the LTO tried is granting an extension of the validity of expiring driver’s licenses. The extension however would only be good until April this year.
In December last year, LTO secured around 4 million plastic cards which Mendoza then claimed would be enough to supply its requirement for the next nine months on the assumption that the agency targets issuance of 6.5 million driver’s licenses per year.
The cards were procured through advance bidding by the agency. No documents were available indicating the cost, nor the firm that the LTO contracted.
LTO’s Bigger Problem
According to Mendoza, vehicle license plate backlog now stands at 12.5 million. Of this number, 9.1 million are motorcycle plates, while nearly 3.4 million are black and white replacements for the old green motor vehicle plates.
He hinted at the “bottlenecks in distribution” as the reason behind the backlog – “Ang plaka nandyan na eh. Kung bibili ka ng kotse ngayon, ang plaka andyan na. Nagkaproblema lang tayo sa distribution side, kasi yung ibang dealer natin, bina-batching ang pagkuha ng plaka at OR/CR sa LTO at pag-submit ng mga required documentation,” he said.
The LTO chief, however, cited the need to increase the plant capacity to address the backlog. When two robot machines go online on or before April 1, capacity will increase to 38,000 plates per day from the current 28,000 plates.
At this rate, the vehicle plate backlogs will be erased by not later than the third quarter of 2025 – or even earlier if the plate-making plants are made to operate 24 hours a day.
Too Many Unregistered
Based on LTO data, there are around 27 million vehicles in the country. However, almost half of them are unregistered.
“People do not register because anyway, we are unable to enforce registration requirements on these vehicles, especially in the provinces. Some explanations given to me are that they were not able to register during the pandemic and it just carried over after the pandemic. Some say that their vehicles are already broken, dilapidated, and already set aside,” Mendoza explained.
“Are you aware of the consequences if these unregistered vehicles continue to use the roads of this country?” panel chairperson Representative Romeo Acop of Antipolo City asked.
“Yes, that’s why we are aggressively addressing delinquent vehicles,” the LTO chief assured the committee.
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