5-year driver’s license out

CEBU, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office (LTO)-7 has rolled out driver’s license cards with five-year validity.

In Cebu yesterday, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino was among the first to avail of the license.

"This is part of the strong commitment of President Rodrigo Duterte to help decongest LTO from long queuing. It only took me at least 15 minutes to get my plastic driver's license," Dino said.

Like the rest, he underwent a drug test to renew his license.

LTO-7 Director Alita Pulga said that there is a backlog of more than 343,917 driver's licenses with five-year validity in Central Visayas from November 16, 2016 up to November 17, 2017.

So far, eight of LTO’s licensing centers are releasing the cards, she said. These include the Cebu City Licensing Center, Lapu-Lapu City Extension Office, Danao City District Office, Talisay City Extension Office, Carcar City District Office and Toledo City District Office for Cebu City and  Cebu Province and two in Negros Oriental, namely Bayawan City District Office and DLRO Robinsons Dumaguete City.

Pulga said these offices will release the cards from Monday to Friday at 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (both for backlog and new applications). On Saturdays, the offices will cater to backlog transactions only also from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

She said these offices can cater to at least 200 clients per day on a first come, first served basis.

In getting the card, personal appearance of the client is a must. The client must also present his/her temporary driver's license/official receipt of the driver's license transaction.

Blood type, emergency contact person, address and number are the additional information to be encoded in the system.

Meanwhile, the following LTO offices are not ready to release the cards yet owing to Internet connection problems: DLRO SM City Cebu, DLRO Robinsons Fuente, Mandaue City Licensing Center and Medellin Extension  Office for Cebu City and Cebu Province; for Bohol Province are the Tagbilaran City District Office, DLRO Island City Mall, Jagna District Office and Talibon Extension Office; Dumaguete City District Office and Bais City District Office in Negros Oriental; and Siquijor District Office in Siquijor Province.

Pulga said the new plastic license cards are laser engraved and made of polycarbonate materials and have several security features.

The five-year validity of an applicant’s driver’s license in Central Visayas took effect on November 2, 2016 in Cebu, Negros Oriental, Siquijor and Bohol. (FREEMAN)