DOT postpones 5-year validity for NCR driver’s licenses

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation (DOT) has deferred extending the validity of driver’s licenses for applicants in Metro Manila, an official said yesterday.

“NCR (National Capital Region) driver’s licenses (are set) to start five-year validity by October 2016 instead of my earlier statement of Sept. 19,” DOT spokesperson Cherie Mercado said.

She said the five-year validity will begin in October to give the government time to test for glitches.

The move to extend the validity of driver’s licenses is in line with President Duterte’s directive. In his State of the Nation Address, he said the government would want to have a longer validity period for the driver’s license to avoid queues at the Land Transportation Office (LTO), an attached agency of the DOT.

At present, the government is in the process of procuring additional plastic cards amid a backlog in the issuance of licenses.

To address the backlog of 1.1 million licenses, Mercado said the government will release 400,000 licenses per month beginning in November.

LTO legal consultant Romeo Vera Cruz said the agency is drafting the executive order to be signed by DOT Secretary Arthur Tugade for the extension of the driver’s license validity.

He said the LTO will also inform its computer service provider, Stradcom, to upgrade its system.  

Vera Cruz said the agency will reorder more than 1.2 million plastic cards for P84 million from its previous provider, AllCard Plastics Philippines Inc., on Aug. 19.

AllCard Plastics bagged the P336-million contract for the LTO’s driver’s license project in 2015. The driver’s license is priced at P67 each.

Under the law, the LTO is only allowed to reorder 25 percent of its last order from a former supplier. The LTO’s previous order was for five million plastic cards.

Former LTO chief Roberto Cabrera, who stepped down on July 1, said AllCard’s contract with LTO has expired.