LTO license processing centers to open in 24 malls

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) will open 10 Drivers’ Renewal Offices at Robinsons Malls Lingkod Pinoy Centers nationwide. Present during the signing of the contract were (from left): Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, LTO Assistant Secretary Alfonso Tan Jr., Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) president Frederick Go and RLC vice chair and CEO Lance Gokongwei.

Aside from 25 sites recently activated in Metro Manila, Luzon and Visayas, the processing of applications for drivers’ licenses, student permits and conductors’ licenses will soon be done in Robinsons malls all over the country.

Under a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), the Land Transportation Office (LTO) will open Driver’s License Renewal Offices (DLROs) in 24 malls nationwide.

The mall chain has agreed to waive the rental fees of the DLROs for 10 years, DOTC spokesman Michael Arthur Sagcal said in a text message on Thursday.

“They [Robinsons] will also be in charge of constructing the actual DLROs,” Sagcal added.

According to the DOTC, the move was aimed at making license renewal more convenient for motorists nationwide.

Currently, only nine out of the 24 Robinsons malls all over the country host LTO satellite offices operated by private entities. Under the MOA, however, the LTO will deal directly with RLC.

“We congratulate the LTO for its initiative to bring its services closer to the people and to make license renewal more convenient for them. With various reform and modernization programs being implemented, we can look forward to much-improved services at the LTO,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said in a statement.

With a backlog of about 900,000 licenses, LTO chief Alfonso Tan said some district offices would be open on Saturdays to accommodate the release of cards for those who were issued temporary licenses.

The LTO experienced a shortage in the supply of license cards after its previous supplier was affected by the port congestion problem last year.

With the cost per card down from P125 to P68 courtesy of  the LTO’s new supplier, Allcard Plastics Philippines Inc., Tan said the agency has asked the Department of Finance to lower the P350 processing fee to reflect the reduced production cost.

With the opening of the DLROs in Robinsons malls, “we’ll implement a system targeting a processing time of 10 minutes or less,” he added. “We hope that with a faster processing time in plain renewal centers in malls, we’ll be able to declog our district offices.”

The MOA was signed by Tan, Abaya, RLC president Frederic Go and RLC vice chair Lance Gokongwei.–Riza T. Olchondra and Erika Sauler