Paper-based licenses to save LTO’s day in the face of card shortages

[hk blues]

6 minutes ago, Gas said:

Sort off.
Nobody has thought about the thousands of Filipinos and foreigners who use their Philippine licenses abroad for travel or work. 
I use my Philippine license abroad for car hire and it’s about to expire soon. I have two trips abroad in the next few months and I’m sure Hertz won’t accept a expired license 🙁

Agreed.

You could always print off the LTO announcement and see how that goes.  And, perhaps they will accept the paper version along with the communication regarding the issue with plastic cards.

[Mike J]

Well written opinion piece that really blasts the LTO as well as the fiasco over the national ID program.

https://opinion.inquirer.net/162629/ltos-stopgap-mentality

First, the national identification card, which was finally issued after much delay, came with erroneous entries and had to be printed out on paper. Now comes the news that the driver’s license would be printed on paper as well. Can we then expect license plates to be printed on paper next? Incensed netizens have asked on social media. What a way to treat government-issued identification cards in this ID-crazed nation!

The situation would be laughable if it weren’t fraught with risks that the concerned government agencies didn’t foresee, or chose to ignore. Being flimsy, how can paper IDs and licenses withstand the expected wear and tear that come with their repeated use, especially since every official transaction in this nation demands two government-issued IDs? Not to mention the fact that being printed on paper, the information can easily be altered or faked, which puts the integrity of the driver’s license and the national ID in question.

How ironic indeed that to get a government-issued ID, one needs to present other government-issued documents. For instance, to get a driver’s license, one must present, aside from a birth certificate, other acceptable IDs such as one’s passport, Social Security System card, Unified Multipurpose ID card, PhilHealth ID, TIN card, postal ID, voter’s ID, barangay ID, a Government Service Insurance System card, among others.

Noting the ridiculous and impractical number of IDs that one must carry around to transact business with both public and private agencies, the government finally found the will to issue a single national ID. Thus in 2018, Republic Act No. 11055, or the Philippine Identification System Act, was signed into law “to establish a single national identification system for all citizens and resident aliens” of the Philippines. The PhilID, dubbed as the foundational digital ID system, is intended to simplify public and private transactions by being the ultimate valid proof of one’s identity.

Well and good. Except that the good intention was ruined by the lackluster implementation of the law, which saw applicants waiting for a year or two to get their printed ID—only to be informed that they’d have to download and print it themselves. The promised personal delivery to one’s preferred address has been so rarely fulfilled that they’re celebrated with much aplomb on social media by the lucky few.

By the time President Marcos took office in 2022, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) found itself with a backlog of millions, prompting him to call on the agency to expedite the delivery of the PhilIDs, which could have been used for the distribution of the government’s pandemic aid to the poor and the SIM registration of mobile phone users. In October last year, the PSA decided to temporarily print the PhilIDs on paper as it struggled to cope with the printing and delivery of the cards to some 73 million applicants.

As if that were not enough inconvenience to the public, the LTO last week announced its plastic card shortage, adding that the problem first cropped up in 2015 and that it has a backlog of 5.2 million driver’s licenses, on top of millions of new applicants. Its “stopgap solution,” the LTO said, was to issue temporary licenses printed on paper and extend the validity of expiring driver’s licenses to October.

This was simply unacceptable to motorists who had applied and paid for their licenses, Sen. Grace Poe said. “We should give them the right and respectable license, not a mere piece of paper,” she said, adding that the LTO’s solution defeats the purpose of RA 10930, which extended the validity of driver’s licenses up to 10 years. Poe, who sponsored the bill’s approval in the Senate, noted that the law enacted in 2017 was meant to widen the period between renewals. This should have lessened the volume of driver’s licenses that needed to be issued each year.

Why the LTO continues to struggle with a problem it should have anticipated and solved eight years ago is anybody’s guess. According to the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the shortage of plastic cards was due to the “LTO’s failure to undertake early procurement activities in compliance with existing laws.” Except for incompetence, it has no other excuse for this crisis. Recall that the same agency has, until now, failed to deliver millions of license plates for vehicles, a problem that dates back to 2014. Sen. JV Ejercito cited a backlog of 14 million license plates as of February. How can the LTO then describe itself as the “frontline government agency showcasing fast and efficient public service for a progressive land transportation sector”?

Time for DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista, whose department oversees the agency, to crack the whip on nonperforming LTO officials, get to the bottom of its longstanding problems, and get it back on track to fulfill its basic functions instead of it resorting to stopgap and band-aid solutions.

 

[Mike J]

More "shortages" at LTO.  Really just another incident of "sorry sir no stock" year after year.  I think the register your vehicle, assign a plate number from the computer, now try to order, build, ship, collect, the plate is "back @ssward".  I lived in Washington state prior to moving here.  In  Washington you would register at any local DMV office, took a few minutes depending on length of the line.   If you needed a new plate for any reason, there are cartons of new plates behind the counter.  You pay, they give you a new plate, and update the computer.  Again just a few minutes.  Here you could wait years for a plate and the chance of getting a plate sticker during annual registration if chancy at best.  I have registered my scooter every year since I bought it 8 years ago.  My "current" sticker is 2017.  "Sorry sir, stickers are out of stock".  The final sentene in the article is kind of laughable when you read what is happening at LTO.  The entire licensing system is flawed, broken, and embarrassing.   

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/868098/lto-license-plates-for-motorcycles-seen-depleted-in-june-vehicles-in-july/story/

The license plates for motorcycles are expected to run out by June, while those for four-wheeled vehicles by July, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) said on Wednesday.

LTO chief Jay Art Tugade said that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has been informed of the looming problem as the agency is in charge of the procurement of the license plates amounting to P4.5 billion.

“Insofar as the license plates are concerned, based on the forecast of the LTO, license plates will run out for motorcycles by June, and by July, the license plates for motor vehicles will be depleted as well,” he said in an ANC interview.

As a solution to this, Tugade said the LTO is working on a contingency where they would allow motorcycle and vehicle owners to temporarily issue their own license plates.

“For example, motorcycle owners, in the absence of a plate number, they can create a plate number and on the plate number, it will say the motor vehicle file number of the motorcycle,” he said.

Asked if this would not make the Philippines more prone to crimes as anybody could just put a different number or letter in their own plates, Tugade said that it is possible.

“You know what, that is precisely the reason for having plate numbers. I agree with you, that could be a possibility. However, we do need to be able to identify motor vehicles and that is one way for us to identify motor vehicles,” he said.

“Similar to a brand new motor vehicle, a car, wherein the identification mark is the conduction sticker. We will be applying the same concept to motorcycles in the event that we fully run out of motorcycle plates,” he added.

Tugade said that the LTO will check the owners’ Certificate of Registration which contains the file number to determine the identity of the vehicle.

The LTO chief thus appealed to the DOTr to fast-track the procurement of the license plates to avoid further problems.

Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista assured the public that there's enough time to procure the license before the current stock runs out. 

"Kaya kailangan na rin natin magkaroon ng procurement, kaya napagsabay na natin itong plaka at driver’s license eh," said Bautista in Joseph Morong's 24 Oras report on Wednesday. 

(We already need to have a procurement, and we will do it together with the driver's license.)

House Deputy Minority Leader Bernadette Herrera of Bagong Henerasyon party-list has filed a resolution seeking a probe amid the plastic card shortage for driver's licenses.

"We want to know specifically and in detail where during the procurement process the Land Transportation Office keeps encountering problems over and over again.” said Herrera in a statement. 

“We also want to know who were incompetent, negligent and grossly negligent in their duties and responsibilities because they should be held liable and accountable," added the lawmaker. 

In October last year, LTO said it aims to clear up to 90% of its license plate backlogs by the end of 2023.

[Mike J]

The new Philippine driver license.  Posted on facebook. 

Edited April 26, 2023 by Mike J

[Joey G]

The Philippines (and perhaps the rest of the world) should just go to a digital QR code for all this stuff... everyone over the age of 7 seems to have a phone. The Philippines has leap frogged technology before.... I bet more than 75% of the country households never had a landline    My in laws went directly from coconut charcoal to an air fryer in week is seems LOLOL.  I wouldn't be surprised if drone deliveries to the province beat FEDEX trucks to the punch as well.

[BrettGC]

@Mike J in Australia New car dealers are issued plates en-masse and then notify the relevant authority of which has been allocated to a vehicle as the vehicle is sold.  That's how it works in QLD anyway.  Takes 2 minutes to change ownership on a used car at TMR (transport and main roads) once both parties have filled out the paperwork.  The queue at TMR is the only thing slowing down the process but that seems to be universal.

Edited April 27, 2023 by BrettGC

[BrettGC]

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

The new Philippine driver license.  Posted on facebook. 

Yeah, that'll fit nicely in my dual fold wallet....

Maybe they were relying on the fact that even men carry manbags here?

[manofthecoldland]

Heh-heh.....   I wouldn't be surprised to see it mandated that you have to wear your driver's license hanging around your neck on a necklace lanyard when driving.... and the new, large ones slapping the poor single motorbike drivers in the face amidst the air turbulence, causing a new series of road accidents.  After all.... they did want large protective plastic shields between bike driver and passenger for awhile.

[Possum]

3 hours ago, Mike J said:

I lived in Washington state prior to moving here.  In  Washington you would register at any local DMV office, took a few minutes depending on length of the line.   If you needed a new plate for any reason, there are cartons of new plates behind the counter.  You pay, they give you a new plate, and update the computer.  Again just a few minutes.  Here you could wait years for a plate and the chance of getting a plate sticker during annual registration if chancy at best. 

That is pretty common in most states and I have often wondered if the Philippine government looks at how things are done in other countries and then chooses the most inefficient. Changing things though is difficult here because at each step in any process here someone either in or out of government is getting money.

The people that the government actually represents have probably never set foot in an LTO office so at present they'll just have some studies and hearings....again.

[Freebie]

36 minutes ago, Greglm said:

nd I have often wondered if the Philippine government looks at how things are done in other countries

So currently 7 Manila mayors are having a "jolly"  ( free trip ) to Amsterdam to "study" how Amsterdam deals with many cyclists and a prevalent decades old cycling culture... In European weather.

I dread/can only imagine to think what changes they will make as a result of their fact finding trip.

A cynic would wonder if spouses /partners and kids also tagged along.