LTO to release 6.67 M licenses with 5-year validity

MANILA, Philippines – About 6.67 million driver’s licenses made of polycarbonate materials and valid for five years will be distributed starting next month.

Romeo Vera Cruz, Land Transportation Office (LTO) legal counsel, said that their IT provider, Stradcom Corp., will begin the migration of database this month.

“After the migration of database to different LTO offices, we can already release the driver’s license to cardholders by October,” he said.

The migration of database is a process by which all the cardholders’ data will be transferred from the LTO’s database to its 125 offices nationwide, a process which may take some time.

Vera Cruz said that the first migration of database will start in the 39 sites in the National Capital Region and will be followed by the other regions.

Driver’s licenses with the five-year validity are for motorists with pending application before the LTO or those with official receipt, renewal and new applicants, he added.

Vera Cruz said the LTO has decided to use a polycarbonate material so that the driver’s license can last for five years as compared to the current license made of PVC.

The LTO and the Department of Transportation have also considered adding more security features in the driver’s licenses, he added.

Vera Cruz said the DOT underwent a regular procurement of the driver’s licenses last month so that the distribution of cards can start before yearend.

The DOT has allotted P528.79 million for procuring the 6.67 million driver’s licenses through the General Appropriations Act, he added.

The LTO has decided to order 6.67 million pieces of driver’s licenses to address the backlog, which stands at 1.1 million as of July 15, Vera Cruz said.

The Manila Regional Trial Court   has issued a writ of injunction against the LTO’s deal with the previous card supplier, causing the long delay in the distribution of driver’s licenses.