The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has disclosed in a press conference on Thursday that there is a low supply of plastic driver’s license cards in the Philippines, which made them decide to issue temporary licenses printed on a piece of paper.
In a video posted on LTO’s Facebook page, LTO chief Jose Arturo Tugade said: “So ito pong pagkakulang o pagkawala ng license cards po natin, right now it is a nationwide problem. So meron pong mga offices sa NCR na meron pang plastic cards, meron naman pong ibang offices sa NCR na wala na pong plastic cards.”
“‘Yung forecast po ng LTO is completely po mauubos ‘yung inventory on hand ng mga offices by the last week of April,” he continued.
He also noted that LTO offices across the country are left with an inventory of 147,000 driver’s license cards.
As a solution, they will issue a “temporary license document” where they will print the official receipt (OR) of the driver’s license on a paper. Tugade said that the OR will have a unique QR code, which is one way for the law enforcers to validate if whether or not the OR is legitimate and authentic.
“Sa likod po ng OR, ni-rerequire din po namin ‘yung offices namin ngayon na doon po i-print ‘yung driver’s license, which would have been printed on the plastic cards,” Tugade said.
This rule will be implemented until there is enough supply of plastic cards in the country. The LTO is currently coordinating with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on the process of the procurement of plastic cards.
“Sa sandaling magbigay na ng abiso ang DOTr na mayruon nang suplay ng plastic cards, agad na naming pasisimulan ang pag-iimprenta ng driver’s license,” Tugade said.
