LTO overwhelmed by Viber messages

LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II —Arnel Tacson/INQUIRER.net file photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Saturday said it was already coordinating with Viber Philippines to restore access to the AksyOn the Spot hotline number, which the agency had tapped to expedite the processing of the printing of plastic-printed driver’s license.

LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II said the agency’s IT personnel lost access to the AksyOn the Spot hotline 0929-2920865 after it was flooded with inquiries and requests for printing of driver’s license.

READ: LTO orders additional 6.5M plastic cards for licenses

“On behalf of the LTO, I sincerely apologize for this incident. Be rest assured that we will continuously work on this to restore our access and eventually facilitate the printing of a plastic driver’s license of our countrymen,” Mendoza said.

As of Thursday, July 18, the LTO said, the number of requests and inquiries already reached more than 9,000.

The agency tapped the hotline last weekend as a platform for around five percent of motorists who have yet to get their plastic-printed driver’s license.

Mendoza earlier ordered the use of the hotline amid reports that there are still a number of motorists who are yet to get their plastic driver’s license.

He said motorists could send the photograph or scanned copy of the paper-printed driver’s license through the hotline’s Viber platform.

Mendoza said the backlog for the plastice driver’s license has been resolved so motorists should not be using the paper licenses anymore. —Jerome Aning