Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the driver’s license shortage is expected to normalize by September with the upcoming delivery and issuance of 130,000 cards to motorists.
“We’re expecting the delivery of the licenses by next week. Initially, they will be issued little by little. By September all the pending cards that have been issued would have been delivered,” Bautista said in a statement.
The transport chief clarified that the earlier forecast of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Land Transportation Office (LTO) of up to 500,000 plastic card shortage was until October, citing the LTO’s extension of driver’s licenses validity up to Oct. 31.
“We previously issued a statement that almost 400,000 to 500,000 [driver’s licenses] are pending because we included in the [tally] those that have been extended up to October,” Bautista said.
“Remember that on April 24, there was a memorandum circular extending the validity of license expiring on April 24 to Oct. 31. By September, we can issue all of these licenses,” he added.
He noted that the electronic version of the driver’s licenses issued by the LTO can also be accessed through the Land Transportation Management System portal.
“We have implemented the so-called digital license so those who don’t have the physical copy yet, can see their license in the portal,” Bautista said, adding that the electronic licenses may be used as alternative identification cards.
He said those who have been issued paper-printed licenses may start receiving their physical license cards by August or September.
Meanwhile, around 108,400 pieces of motor vehicle plates arrived at the LTO on Tuesday, the first batch from the total of 16 million plates to be delivered by the winning bidder, Trojan-Tonnjes Joint Venture, the DOTr announced on Wednesday.
Bautista said they were able to save P1.4 billion for the procurement and around 500,000 motor vehicle plates are expected to be delivered by the first week of August.