Holders of either expired or paper-printed driver’s licenses can now heave a sigh of relief after Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Vigor Mendoza II announced on Thursday, Oct. 5, that the agency has already received a sufficient number of plastic cards to solve the current 2.4 million backlog.
LTO chief Asst. Sec. Vigor Mendoza II shows plastic cards, which he said, are part of the sufficient number of deliveries they received to address the backlog on the plastic-printed version of driver’s license during a press conference at the LTO Central Office in Quezon City on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023.
So far, Mendoza said around 700,000 to 800,000 plastic cards were already delivered in various LTO licensing offices across the country, especially in Metro Manila and other urban areas where the application and renewal for driver’s licenses are high.
But Mendoza was quick to clarify that they will be implementing renewal dates in order to ensure that there will be no congestion in any licensing offices that may result in long queues and glitches in the printing process due to the overwhelming number of renewal applications.
The driver’s license renewal dates, he said, are contained in the memorandum he issued to all regional directors and heads of licensing offices across the country.
Based on the memorandum the following are the schedule dates of renewal:
· For Driver’s License that expired from April 1 to 30, the scheduled renewal dates are from October 6-31, 2023;
· For Driver’s License that expired from May 1-31, 2023, the scheduled renewal dates are from November 1-30, 2023;
· For Driver’s License that expired from June 1-30, 2023, the scheduled renewal dates are from December 1-31, 2023;
· For Driver’s License that expired from July 1-31, 2023, the scheduled renewal dates are from January 1-31, 2024;
· For Driver’s License that expired from August 1-31, 2023, the scheduled renewal dates are from February 1-29, 2024;
· For Driver’s License that expired from September 1-30, 2023, the scheduled renewal dates are from March 1-31, 2024.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Oct. 5, Mendoza said they expect the delivery of two million plastic cards by the end of October this year, which would translate to finally addressing the backlog by March next year wherein all driver's license holders are expected to have the plastic-printed version.
The backlog in driver’s licenses started when the LTO failed to procure plastic cards since late last year amid the then depleting supply.
This resulted in either the extension of the validity of the expired driver’s license or the issuance of the paper-printed version.
The number of backlog ballooned since April due to the 500,000 per month demand for renewal of driver’s license. The production and delivery was also affected after a Quezon City court issued a 20-day Temporary Restraining Order over a case filed by a losing bidder in the production of plastic cards.
Currently, there are 2.4 million backlog in driver’s license
But with the current speed in the production and delivery of the plastic cards Mendoza said they expect to address the backlog by March next year.
“We have enough supply of plastic cards. But we have to implement the schedule of renewal so that the renewal process that includes the printing and distribution of plastic cards would be systematic and orderly,” said Mendoza.
For those who have already renewed their licenses and were only given paper-printed driver’s licenses, Mendoza said all they have to do is go back to the licensing office where they applied and present the receipt of their payment for the issuance of the plastic version of the driver’s license.
The LTO earlier extended the validity of all driver's licenses that expired from April 1 due to the shortage of plastic cards.
But now that the LTO is already capable of printing the plastic version of the driver’s license, Mendoza explained that the such validity would expire if the driver’s license holders would fail to renew them on the scheduled dates.