By Nikolai Ordoña

Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Jose Arturo Tugade disclosed on Thursday that it will soon begin to release driver’s licenses on paper instead of plastic cards, as a temporary solution to the card shortage the agency is currently facing.

Tugade noted that LTO offices nationwide only have 147,000 license cards left, which they expect to run out by the end of April.

“The solution is to use a temporary driver’s license document. We will be using paper for the temporary driver’s license. We will be printing the official receipt of the driver’s license, and on the official receipt of the driver’s license, there will be a unique QR code… That is one way for the law enforcers to validate whether or not the official receipt is legitimate and whether it is authentic,” the LTO Chief explained.

He added that instead of bringing the printouts, drivers may also take a photo of their permits, provided that the QR code is clearly visible for verification.

Procurement policy

Chief Tugade explained that their inventory of cards was already at a “critical level” as early as December 2022. 

They were already set to procure additional supplies, but the agency received a department order dated January 25 that “all procurement involving PhP 50 million and above should be conducted by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) Central Office.”

The LTO tried to convince the DOTr to reconsider the order due to the urgency of the purchase. However, the request was not granted, since estimations show that the production of about 5.2 million new license cards cost about PhP 249 million. 

“Had we been able to continue with our procurement activities, we would have sufficient plastic cards,” Tugade said.

On the other hand, DOTr explained that the LTO failed to comply with procurement and bidding rules, although they are already working on the purchase and procurement terms of reference (TOR) submitted by the LTO in March.

“DOTr hopes to procure enough license cards before supply runs out and while the TOR is being remedied so the bidding for supply of license can proceed,” the agency assured.

The LTO had already faced a similar issue in 2015; and, as a temporary solution, they extended the 150-day validity of temporary licenses until there was enough supply of cards.

Thumbnail from CNN Philippines