LTO declares ‘state of emergency’ on plastic driver’s license

MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is under a “state of emergency” amid the shortage of plastic cards needed to print driver’s licenses.

In a radio interview yesterday, LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II said four million plastic cards donated by the Philippine Society of Medicine for Drivers have yet to be used.

“We are running out of cards as we are still awaiting the final OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) opinion on the four million cards,” he said.

“The directive of (Transportation) Secretary (Jaime Bautista) is to ensure that the issues are ironed out so that we will have no problem (in the implementation of the donation) so we need the green light (of OSG). We will report back to the secretary for his final go-signal as far as the four million donation is concerned,” he said.

Mendoza will recommend to Bautista an agency-to-agency acquisition of plastic cards, where government printing offices will be tapped.

“We need to hasten the process by the end of January. I think our inventory as of yesterday will be only good for two weeks. Some district offices, mall offices can no longer provide cards because of very limited supply. That is why we are in a state of emergency as far as the (licenses) cards are concerned. We are almost zero,” he explained.

Expired licenses will be extended until April 2024, he noted. Congress will be provided with details of the donated plastic cards once the OSG releases its legal opinion, he added.

The OSG elevated to the Court of Appeals an injunction issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on the release of 5.2 million plastic cards.

Mendoza said the donated plastic cards would mean P2 billion in savings for the government.

“The four million cards are still not enough. That’s why we are now processing another six million cards. As of 2024, we need 10 million to 12 million cards. Normally, we need seven million year-to-year, around 600,000 cards per month but specifically for 2024, because we have revenue targets, we are targeting 12 million cards,” he said.