LTO orders info drive to lead public to license centers with working laser engravers

Facade of LTO building in Quezon City. Photo from LTO website

MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Monday issued a memorandum directing its centers to inform the public of driver’s license renewal offices (DLROs) with fully functional laser engravers to alleviate backlog issues.

“This can serve as a stop-gap measure for the meantime while we await the repairs of defective laser engravers to be completed. Also, informing the public which office to go to for driver’s license issuance and renewal prevents confusion and further inconvenience to them,” LTO Chief Jose Arturo Tugade said in a statement.

Tugade added that vital parts for the repair of laser engravers are already available at the Bureau of Customs.

“We need to put them in one by one to the machines and evaluate them. As for the timeline, we are looking at fixing the machines by February of next year,” he said.

New motorcycle license plates design

Tugade likewise announced that 9.4 million of the 12 million backlogs for motorcycle license plates will come out with a new design in compliance with Republic Act No. 11235 or the “Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act.”

The motorcycle license plate with the new design, as stipulated under RA 11235, is bigger, readable, and color-coded, and is made of a suitable and durable aluminum substrate material with a reflectorized background. It also comes with security features.

Tugade earlier vowed to expedite the release of 92,000 driver’s license cards that accumulated in LTO due to defective laser engraving machines.

Tugade said they would need additional funds to repair the faulty tools.

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KGA/abc