New Land Transportation Office (LTO) head Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II officially assumed his post today, July 25, and he inherits a slightly smaller backlog of pending deliverables—5,000 fewer, to be exact, as one of his first tasks after being sworn in to office was to receive the first batch of blank driver’s license cards from the new supplier.
Banner Plasticard delivered at least 5,000 blank driver’s license cards out of the one million pieces that it will to turn over in the next 60 days. On July 19, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) reported that there were 130,000 unissued driver’s licenses because of the card shortage, adding that it expected the backlog to be cleared and the supply of cards to normalize by September.
In April, the agency extended the validity of driver’s licenses expiring from April 24 onwards until October 31, or until blank license cards are available again. At the time, the remaining stock of blank cards was reserved for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). In the meantime, everyone else is advised to present e-driver’s licenses, which may be accessed via the LTMS portal, if needed.
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Aside from unissued driver’s license cards, Mendoza also faces the task of clearing the huge backlog of vehicle license plates over the next five years he will be in office.
The newly LTO head stressed his commitment to addressing these issues as quickly as possible: “Let’s not wait five years. Ang aking laging iniisip, kung magagwa natin bukas, bakit pa natin hihintayin ang next week? Gawin na natin ang magagwa natin ngayon.”
