I recently got a driver’s license. It is really a unique experience, especially since it has become quite easy to own personal vehicles nowadays, whether these be of the two- or four-wheel type. But, perhaps, what got my attention is not the process of getting a license as much as the location where it happens.
I did not go to the main branch of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), which is located in Quezon City. I instead went to one of the branches in my city, which I will not name — I say branches since there are several in this city.
What first got my attention were the inadequacies, not of the employees but of the facility, of the physical space within which this government office services citizens. For one, it is semi-dilapidated. Semi, because there are parts that look bright and shiny, and others where the wood looks like it hasn’t been painted in ages.
Take, for instance, the clinic where those looking to get a license (student’s permit included) are given health certificates. In this particular branch of the LTO, the clinic looks like it was just added as an afterthought: walls made of plywood, without even the attempt to make them look decent enough; the good doctor and the cashier on duty occupy desks with plastic dividers, akin to those made during the covid-era to segment work spaces; and people have to sit on a wooden bench, which was more like a log studded with legs so it can stand as a makeshift chair.
After you get a health certificate, you then proceed to a small office with no chairs, save for a couple of monobloc plastic ones already occupied by people who probably (it isn’t made clear, really) work there. Here, you are asked to fill out forms for the exams that are part of the process of getting your permit or license. There are no actual working desks because the two or more tables I remember seeing these occupied by copying machines.
In this particular LTO branch, the waiting area exists separate from the actual office building. After you go through the process needed to get your student’s permit or driver’s license, you have to go outside to a tent that sits across the building where the LTO branch is, and wait for your name to be called. This is inconvenient for both the would-be drivers, who wait it out in the heat, and to the LTO workers who have to keep going in and out of the building just to call those who are getting their permits or licenses.
This isn’t meant to demean the venerable LTO and its satellite offices. On the contrary, this is supposed to ask the question why. Why does the LTO still have offices that do not look like they have been modernized? Why does the LTO seem to skimp on improving the actual experience of getting permits and licenses, making it not a very pleasant one for Filipinos to go through?
It is no surprise then that the “fixer culture” persists. After all, why would you subject yourself to such an unpleasant experience that could last for hours if you could get the same results in a more convenient albeit pricey manner?
And it really boils down to this. In today’s world, when automation is becoming the norm, where government transactions can be done online (which, of course, cannot be true for getting a driver’s license, but that is not the point), why are there still government offices that look like they are not made to provide quality service? Why is it not possible for government spaces to be more pleasant, to be more customer-friendly, to be more modern?
When government services become inconvenient, people resort to circumventing processes simply because it is more efficient to do so. This, of course, in no way excuses “fixer culture,” which needs to be stopped. But it does show why it persists. It is, ultimately, a classic case of supply and demand.
There are, of course, more modern government offices that provide these services. Those located in malls, for example, have a more conducive atmosphere. Nevertheless, there is a need to improve the overall experience for Filipinos who line up to procure such services. And this starts with improving the actual spaces where such transactions happen.
PS: Can we please finally get rid of bond-paper-printed signages in these government offices?