LTO’s plastic card fiasco

Unless something drastic happens to improve the status quo, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) will run out of driver’s license plastic cards by the end of next week, forcing Filipino motorists to use their expired cards for a few more months or make do with the flimsy paper version of new and renewed licenses.

LTO chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II declared last week that the agency’s plastic card supply was in a “state of emergency,” as it has only 270,000 cards on hand that will only be good until the end of the month given that the country uses about 550,000 to 600,000 cards every month.

Indeed, some district offices, especially those in high-traffic malls, had already run out and had resorted to issuing paper licenses.Legal roadblocksThis after repeated promises since the dire shortage was revealed in April last year that the supply of as basic a frontline service as a plastic card for driver’s licenses would be stabilized.

But given the way that the transportation arms of the Marcos administration remain stuck and entangled in bureaucratic red tape and lack of basic planning and a sense of urgency, Filipino drivers may have to wait longer than expected for plastic licenses to be readily available.

The LTO can pin part of the blame for the plastic card fiasco on the legal roadblocks placed by former supplier AllCard Inc., who had secured an injunction in October last year to stop the 2023 winning bidder Banner Plasticard Inc. from delivering the balance of 3.3 million cards under their contract to deliver a total of 5.2 million.

Backlog of 2.6 millionBut while the still unresolved legal challenge was indeed a major setback, the Marcos administration has other options right in front of it that it can take full advantage of to immediately solve the protracted plastic problem.

For one thing, the LTO has been sitting since December last year on a donation of some four million plastic cards worth P160 million from a private medical group that should immediately erase the backlog of 2.6 million to address the backlog from 2023.The rollout of the donated cards, however, has been stalled as the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is yet to release a legal opinion that will pave the way for the use of the donated cards, leaving Filipinos increasingly frustrated.

Indeed, what could possibly be so complicated about crafting these awaited rules?

Hanky-pankyGranted that it is the first time that such a donation has been made, a commitment to a common cause, however, should allow the parties to come to an immediate agreement over a simple enough transaction, just to make sure that there is transparency and “no hanky-panky or side deals,” as Mendoza said.

Filipinos simply are tired of waiting thus it may be wise for the Marcos administration to light a fire under the OSG, so that it will immediately issue the guidelines and get the distribution of the urgently needed plastic cards under way.

As it is, it will take some more time for the donated cards to be released as according to the LTO, these will still undergo technical review by the Department of Science and Technology to ensure the proper thickness, weight, and quality of the cards. The process can take at least three weeks.

Absent the OSG rules, the LTO has urged the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to approve the “agency-to-agency” procurement of the plastic license cards so that these can be delivered as early as February.

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The LTO has already requested quotations from three government printers and was waiting with bated breath for the DOTr’s final decision on which agency to tap from among the National Printing Office, Apo Production Unit, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Ego-trippingThat the LTO is scrambling for supply at the last possible minute is a result not just of its legal issues but also of poor planning, even if the numbers are not exactly complicated. It needs 550,000 to 600,000 cards a month or about 6.5 million plastic cards every year to meet the regular demand.

DOTr said as much in April last year, blasting the LTO for its failure “to undertake early procurement activities in compliance with the existing rules.”

To think that the LTO has supposedly learned its lesson from the years of being blasted for the delay in the issuance of vehicle license plates from the Aquino administration to the present. Even now, the Marcos administration is facing a motorcycle plate backlog of 13 million that may only be resolved in 2025.Clearly, the LTO’s implementation of its mandate leaves a lot to be desired although it does have legitimate excuses to address.

But such finger-pointing and ego-tripping must be set aside for now as there is a bigger public service issue facing the LTO and one that needs to be immediately resolved through common sense and joint commitment to a cause to ease the suffering of Filipino motorists who need a basic plastic driver’s license card.