Early last year, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) announced that owners of private vehicles can renew their registration at the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) portal without the need to go to any of the LTO district offices.
This may sound fine and dandy, and especially for yuppies and techies, sounds just the answer that jives into their fast-paced lifestyles. A closer look at the requirements, however, shows that these digital changes offer just a slight advantage.
The LTO says that if you want the “fast” way to renew your vehicle registration, the best way is through its LTMS portal. Getting a LTMS account is fairly easy unless you’re hopelessly tech-challenged.
The next step is to get a Certificate of Coverage (COC) or insurance. If you don’t have a vehicle insurance agent, this means seeking one out and going through the process of getting a comprehensive car insurance, which has a bigger coverage than a Compulsory Third Party Liability (CTPL) coverage.
If you just want a CTPL, there are a number of insurers available online, although you have to do a little research to make sure you still get the best coverage for your buck. Your insurer will electronically transmit the COC to the LTMS.
Next, you need to get a roadworthiness test from a private motor vehicle inspection center (PMVIC) or from a private emission testing center (PETC). This means finding one accredited by the LTO, and queueing your vehicle for the test. The PMVIC or PETC will also electronically transmit its inspection report.
The last two steps will be to log on to the LTMS portal to start your online renewal registration and paying your fees online. Barring any technical glitches, you’ll be congratulated for successfully renewing your vehicle.
Easier way
If you think this is easy, old timers who do it the “long” way say the one-stop shop system works just fine, or may be quicker. About two decades ago, the LTO introduced a system where you can get your insurance coverage from an accredited insurer that has a room just within and nearby its premises.
You can also bring your vehicle for an emission test to a favored accredited PETC (there were no PMVICs yet at that time), which could be within the LTO compound or somewhere near. You get both your COC and emission test results in fairly easy time.
Both the insurance coverage and emission tests are submitted to the LTO windows, which are numbered. Then you just wait for your name to be called out.
If you come in early in the day to register your vehicle, you’ll be done in about two hours, including emission testing. If you’re a senior citizen or female, the processing time is even shorter.
Friends say there’s a better trick though. Get a fixer. Even if the LTO discourages getting someone to do the leg work for vehicle owners, finding a “professional” to do the job is fairly easy. I’ve heard of people who just give their vehicle’s latest Official Receipt (OR) and Certificate of Registration (COR) to a trusted fixer, and the next time they see each other, they are given back their original COR and a new OR. Your vehicle doesn’t even leave the garage. Of course, there’s a small fee that changes hands for this service.
Digitization kinks
The LTO’s intention to bring the agency to full digitalization is laudable. It now has a number of one-stop shops that conveniently process driving license renewals in the comfort of air-conditioned malls. An accredited clinic is always just a few steps away to give a medical certificate, and even help license holders or first time driving license seekers to navigate the LTMS portal and take the required online Comprehensive Driver’s Education (CDE) test.
The test is fairly easy to pass, even by a newly graduated student driver, but I’ve heard of people who take the test for others, which sort of defeats the purpose of doing the CDE. This is another area that needs to be improved.
Of course, something must be done about those lapses the led to the recent shortage of plastic cards on which the LTO prints a driver’s license. I’ve been told that new plate numbers are also still in short supply, and this problem has been around for several years now.
It also doesn’t make sense that driving licenses can have a 10-year validity, but license holders need to go back to the LTO for a medical exam on the fourth and seventh year after the license is issued.
When registering your vehicle, you now get a black-and-white printout on ordinary paper, no longer that receipt printed on special LTO paper. This may be part of the digitization move, but one feels a little apprehensive even with the assurance that that piece of paper suffices since your online vehicle registration is more important.
Grand plan
The LTO says it plans a full digitalization of its LTMS by August this year, which not only include motor vehicle registration and driver’s license issuance, but also the Law Enforcement and Traffic Adjudication System (LETAS), Revenue Collection System (RCS), Online Application and Appointment System (OAAS), and Executive Information System (EIS).
Given the kinks that are still prevalent in the current system, the LTO should brace itself of more public censure should any system bugs rear up. With August just a few months away, one can’t help being pessimistic.
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