MANILA, Philippines – The driver’s license shortage may just stretch on as the delivery and processing of much-needed plastic cards for the licenses has been suspended.

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) said a temporary restraining order (TRO) secured by Allcard, a losing bidder for the supply of plastic cards, has brought the delivery of licenses to a stop.

The TRO was issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court and will last for 20 days. A hearing will happen on Tuesday, August 22, during which LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II believes that the order will be lifted.

“Walang basehan ang hinto sa delivery ng driver’s license cards (There’s no basis to stop the delivery of driver’s license cards),” Mendoza said, calling the TRO a “temporary setback.”

The order was issued due to the LTO’s alleged lack of transparency in explaining to Allcard why it was disqualified from bidding.

“Ang intindi ko, lahat ng transparency, ginawa naman, but be that as it may, even assuming tama ang sinasabi ni Allcard, wala namang grave and irreparable damage (From what I understand, we did all transparency measures, but be that as it may, even assuming what Allcard said is right, there’s no grave and irreparable damage),” Mendoza said.

“‘Yung kapalit nito (Instead, what happens) is something even graver. You’re talking about public interest.”

For driver’s licenses that may be affected by the delay in deliveries, Mendoza said licenses may be granted a six-month extension, but that further details will be announced after the hearing.

The LTO received the first batch of an expected 1 million plastic driver’s license cards last July 25, the same day Mendoza took office. This initial batch, amounting to about 5,000 plastic cards, will be used to make licenses for overseas Filipino workers and new driver’s license applicants.

The original plan was to have the winning bidder, Banner Plasticards, which also supplied the Metro Rail Transit Line 3’s magnetic tickets, continue to produce 15,000 to 30,000 cards every day and deliver a million cards within the next two months. Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said some could even claim their physical license cards by around August or September.

A million cards in the first 60 days would have wiped out around half of the backlog, according to Mendoza. That timeline, however, may now be in jeopardy. 

In the meantime, motorists may need to rely on the LTO’s other measures, like the temporary paper licenses and the digital or electronic driver’s license. The electronic license can be accessed through the LTMS portal here. – Rappler.com