By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz | Philippine News Agency
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Thursday said plastic cards for driver’s licenses have been delivered to its offices and announced the schedule as to when the drivers should visit their local LTO office for replacement.
In a statement, LTO chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II said the rollout schedule is for all drivers whose licenses expired from April 1 to Sept. 30 this year.
“Meron na po tayong sapat na bilang ng plastic cards to cover the printing of the driver’s licenses (We already received a sufficient number of plastic cards to cover the printing of driver’s licenses),” he said.
In a memorandum dated Oct. 5 and signed by Mendoza, drivers whose licenses expired on April 1 to 30, 2023, may have their licenses renewed from Oct. 6 to 31.
Those whose license expired in May are scheduled for license renewal for the entire month of November, licenses that expired in June are up for renewal in December, those that expired in July are to be renewed in January 2024, licenses that expired in August are to be renewed in
February, and those that expired in September are to be renewed in March.
“Failure of the driver to renew his/her driver’s license beyond the prescribed schedule shall render the license expired,” the memorandum read.
The gradual renewal schedule, he said, is meant to avoid congestion in LTO offices.
He reiterated that driver’s licenses that expired on April 1 onwards and have not been renewed due to the shortage of plastic cards are extended until their renewal schedule.
Those with paper licenses, he said, need only visit their LTO office and present the receipt of their payment for the issuance of their plastic driver’s license.
He encouraged the public to follow the renewal schedule and emphasized that the renewal process would only take 15 minutes.
Plastic cards delivery
Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation said the delivery of pre-printed driver’s license plastic cards is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2024.
About 1.2 million cards have been delivered so far by the supplier since July 25.
The LTO had been directed by Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista to fast track delivery of the license cards after the temporary restraining order on the card manufacturer was recently lifted.
“We want to make sure that this issue of license cards is resolved immediately. The LTO must oversee that the delivery from the manufacturer is well within the timelines we have set,” Bautista said.
The LTO received Thursday at least 150,000 more plastic cards from Banner Plasticard, Inc.
The current production rate, according to the LTO, is at 25,000 to 27,000 cards daily.
A total of 700,000 cards have been distributed to LTO’s regional offices. (PNA)