The Land Transportation Office has admitted a nationwide shortage of plastic driver’s license, citing a special order of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) disallowing the procurement of 5.2 million plastic cards worth P249 million.
At a news conference, LTO chief Jay Art Tugade said “as of today (Thursday), there are offices that could no longer issue a plastic license.”
“Earlier, we had a briefing with the deputized agencies and the new chief of the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group to tackle various issues, and one of these was the issuance of a temporary driver’s license for renewal and new applications,” he said.
Tugade also said some LTO branches were still unable to issue plastic cards.
“We continue allocating cards,” he said.
“For those that could no longer issue plastic cards, we are doing measures to address the issue,” he added.
The LTO chief gave the assurance that the agency’s official receipt as a temporary driver’s license has a “unique QR code for our law enforcers to verify.”
“We can print out an official receipt for those applying for license renewal,” he said.
Asked about the magnitude of the plastic license shortage, Tugade said “it is a nationwide problem. But there are offices in the National Capital (Region) that still have the plastic cards. Based on our forecast, these plastic cards can only last until the end of April.”
Upon his assumption as LTO chief on Nov. 15, 2022, Tugade ordered an inventory not only of plastic driver’s license cards, but also of license plates, he said.
“By that time, I am already aware of the critical level of inventory of plastic cards,” he said, adding that he immediately coordinated with the concerned committees to procure.
“The agency was already prepared to procure plastic cards in January, he noted. However, we then received a special order on Jan. 25 informing us that the procurement of P50 million and above would be conducted by the central office of the Department of Transportation,: he said.
“We are equally anxious about these plastic cards. We can easily print once we have received the (blank) plastic cards and distribute them. We are one with the people. We commiserate with the people for this unfortunate predicament,” he added.
The LTO earlier sought a P249-million budget allocation for the procurement of 5.2 million blank plastic cards for its one-year requirement.