PAGSANJAN, Laguna — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) Calabarzon region opened on Tuesday its Driver’s License Renewal Office (DLRO) located at the Ground Floor of CLA Mall in Barangay Biñan in this town.
LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante, in his keynote speech during the inauguration, said the DLRO in Pagsanjan will help decongest applicants for student permits and renewal of driver’s licenses in the LTO Pila District Office, which is currently serving Laguna’s 3rd and 4th districts.
CLA Mall is the second largest mall in the 4th district of the province accessible to commuters from Lucban, Quezon in the south and Sta. Maria town in the province’s eastern part. The mall also houses the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) satellite office at the second floor.
Galvante clarified that in spite of the goal of the agency to offer fast and convenient services to the public, it must make sure that licenses are issued to qualified holders only.
“Gusto natin ma-realize na ang mag a-apply ng lisensya na mayroon silang (we want to realize that the applicant for the license has) very important responsibility that they have to be qualified to standards,” he said.
He explained that incidents of road crashes that led to traffic congestions and even deaths can be attributed to “wanton disregard of safety and traffic.”
Galvante urged the support of the local government units (LGUs) and communities to help in the campaign for road safety measures as he cited reports that incidents of road crashes in the country have increased from 2016 to 2017.
He also announced that the agency has started issuing license cards this July, as well as car plates starting July 5 this year for those registered since July 1, 2016.
He also stressed that this latter part of the year, all cars sold to the public will cover registration and car plates as arranged by the manufacturers following the order of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Meanwhile, Francisco Ranches, officer-in-charge, LTO Calabarzon also announced that the new DLRO will now declog huge turnout of applicants in the nearby LTO district in Pila town.
He also thanked Mayor Girlie Maita Ejercito and Cesar V. Areza, chairperson, CLA Mall, for their support that led to the realization of the DLRO Pagsanjan, the 7th office of the agency in the province.
LTO has offices in the cities of Biñan, Calamba, Santa Rosa and San Pablo as well as in the towns of Alaminos and Pila while the 8th office will soon open in San Pedro City.
Ranches also echoed Galvante’s statement that the “DLRO is not only for issuance of licenses but applicants must be responsible holders.” (Zen Trinidad/PNA)
