MANILA, Philippines – Good news, motorists! Those renewing their driver’s license soon may finally get plastic-printed license cards after the Land Transportation Office (LTO) grappled with a months-long shortage of plastic cards.

Here is the renewal schedule for motorists with expiring driver’s licenses:

Motorists who fail to renew their driver’s license within the prescribed schedule will have their licenses rendered as expired.

Those that renew on the following dates will receive a plastic card driver’s license, although the LTO has yet to clarify when motorists will receive the plastic-printed cards.

LTO Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II hopes for motorists to start claiming their plastic card driver’s license the week after the Holy Week break.

“I have already instructed our officials down to the regional level to prepare this list of schedules and finish it before Maundy Thursday. Our goal is to start the distribution process of the plastic-printed driver’s license next week,” Mendoza said in a press release on Tuesday, March 26.

The LTO received at least one million pieces of plastic cards at its central office on Monday, March 25, after the Court of Appeals lifted an injunction order that has been in place since August 2023. This order – secured by Allcard, a losing bidder for the supply of plastic cards – halted the delivery of 3.2 million cards.

Even before the injunction order, the LTO had been grappling with a shortage of plastic cards that forced it to rely on paper or electronic licenses (READ: Driver’s license shortage exposes messy transitions between LTO heads).

The backlog of plastic card driver’s licenses is set to reach 4.1 million by the end of March. Mendoza said that the backlog could be addressed by the second half of 2024. – Rappler.com