Still waiting for your plastic driver’s license? The use of printed paper licenses and the indefinite wait for a plastic license card will (hopefully) come to an end soon.
This week, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has released a new schedule for plastic license card distribution, which will officially start after the long Holy Week break.
The Court of Appeals finally allowed the delivery of one million plastic cards to the LTO central office on Monday, March 25, after it lifted the writ of preliminary injunction issued by a Quezon City Regional Trial Court in October 2023.
In a statement on Tuesday, March 26, LTO chief Atty. Vigor Mendoza II said that the agency’s regional offices have been instructed to prepare the release schedule and submit it before Maundy Thursday: “Our goal is to start the distribution process of the plastic-printed driver’s license next week.”
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Mendoza also confirmed that those who have already been issued a paper-printed driver’s license may have it replaced with an actual plastic card starting April 15. “Babalik lang sila sa district office kung saan nila nakuha yung papel na yun at papalitan ng card,” he said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB as reported by GMA News Online.
For those who haven’t gotten their licenses renewed, here’s the latest renewal schedule according to LTO:
LTO advisory: Schedule of 2024 driver’s license renewals
- April 15 to 30: Licenses expiring from April 1 to August 31, 2023, and April 1 to 30, 2024
- May 1 to 31, 2024: Licenses expiring from September 1 to December 31, 2023, and May 1 to 31, 2024
- June 1 to 30, 2024: Licenses expiring from Jan. 1 to March 31, 2024, and June 1 to 30, 2024
Mendoza said the renewal schedule will “ensure orderly distribution” and will be posted in LTO offices and social media accounts to avoid people flocking to LTO offices at the same time.
Failure of a driver to renew their driver’s license within the schedule will render their license expired, and subject to corresponding penalties.
According to the LTO, the injunction, filed by the losing bidder Allcards Inc. against the winning bidder Banning Plastic Card Inc., stopped the delivery of 3.2 million remaining plastic cards last year. The backlog for plastic license cards was estimated at over 4.1 million by the end of March since no new plastic cards were available to use for printing. Normally, the LTO issues an average of 550,000 plastic cards every month.
Adjusted driver’s license renewal schedules for 2024:
