Lacking the essential material needed to produce plastic-made driver’s license cards, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) is temporarily opting to release driver’s licenses made of paper.
Per a report by 24 Oras’ Joseph Morong, while some licensing offices such as Quezon City and Pasay may still have plastic cards to release, it will not be nearly enough to cater to the thousands in a queue for the polymer licenses.
According to Pasay Licensing Office Assistant Chief Dexter Frane, the issuance of a temporary, paper-based license will start by next week.
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Providing specific a number as to the available plastic cards in the country, LTO Chief Jayart Tugade claimed there were only “140,000,” which his office has estimated will not be adequate to meet the demand.
In December 2022, the LTO requested the purchase of five million cards with an overall price tag of Php249 million.
Citing the anomaly in the asking price being excessive of Php50 million, the Department of Transportation took charge of the bidding of contracts.
The LTO appealed but the supervising agency denied the plea. In light of the situation, Tugade claims that should the procedure went as usual, the required materials would have been made available by now.