MANILA, Philippines – The Land Transportation Office (LTO) continues to struggle with a driver’s license shortage as it admitted that the backlog of cards is growing at an alarming 20,000 cards per day.

“Umabot na po ng 1.7 million as of yesterday, ‘yung ating backlog sa driver’s card (Our backlog of driver’s cards has reached 1.7 million as of yesterday),” said LTO head Vigor Mendoza II, adding that the figure was growing “by around 20,000 every day.”

Rather than shrinking, the backlog is getting worse because deliveries of much-needed cards to the agency have been stopped by a temporary restraining order (TRO).

Losing bidder Allcard obtained a 20-day TRO from the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, based on allegations that the LTO failed to explain why the company was disqualified, even if it put in the lowest bid.

The LTO, meanwhile, said Allcard didn’t make the cut because of its delinquencies in past government contracts.

“Itong Allcard, meron siyang delinquencies in delivery of cards sa ibang ahensiya ng gobyerno, like BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas). ‘Yun yung naging isang rason kung bakit hindi na-award sa kanya,” Mendoza said during a Radyo5 interview.

(This Allcard, it has delinquencies in the delivery of cards to other government agencies, like the BSP. That’s one of the reasons why it wasn’t awarded the contract.)

Mendoza also maintained that there is no basis for the TRO, and that the LTO followed all transparency measures. The LTO hopes to argue for the lifting of the injunction during a court hearing on Tuesday, August 22.

But what if the order to stop deliveries isn’t lifted? Mendoza said that would be a big concern.

“Malaking problema ‘yan kasi doon tayo umaasa na ma-wipe out natin ‘yung backlog. ‘Yan po ang ating supply of cards para sa ating day-to-day usage,” he said. “Ako’y naniniwala naman because of the public interest involved versus the business interest of the other side, eh baka naman ma-sway namin ang korte na payagan ang pagdedeliver ulit ng cards sa LTO.”

(That’ll be a big problem since that’s how we hope to wipe out our backlog. It’s also where we get our supply of cards for day-to-day usage. I believe because of public interest versus business interest of the other side, we can sway the court to allow the delivery of cards to the LTO again.)

What about expiring licenses?

While the LTO grapples with the card shortage, motorists with expiring licenses must bring their official receipt to an LTO branch. Once presented, the official receipt will be stamped with a six-month extension on the back.

Mendoza said the agency is also testing whether the six-month extension date can be directly engraved onto expiring driver’s license cards. This would depend on whether or not the process damages the card.

Moving forward, the LTO is also reviewing whether it can have the National Printing Office produce the plastic cards, rather than conducting a bidding for private firms.

Under new LTO chief, driver’s license shortage could end by September

– Rappler.com