ILOILO City – As the Land Transportation Office (LTO) Region 6 begins honoring electronic driver’s licenses (eDL) in lieu of physical driver’s licenses, all deputized LTO enforcers or any apprehending law officers are obliged to do the same.
This measure follows the directive of former LTO chief Jose Arturo Tugade to honor the presentation of eDL due to the shortage of plastic ones.
LTO-6 spokesperson Riza Otayde said drivers who have transacted with the LTO offices have portal accounts where the eDL can be found.
“Kon mabuksan nimo ang portal nga ina makita dira sa imo dashboard ang ginatawag nga digital ID. Ang digital ID amo na ang electronic DL nga puede i-present kay apprehending officer or kay sin-o man nga magpa-para sa imo kag i-check ang imo driver’s license if wala mo nadala ang imo physical license,” said Otayde.
The apprehending officers will not honor a screenshot or edited eDL. The eDL should be presented only by accessing the portal using an electronic device in front of the LTO officer or deputized agents.
Otayde reminded motorists to remember their usernames and passwords for the LTO portal account, which is for lifetime use.
She said to create an LTO portal account, visit the Land Transportation Management System, or LTMS portal, at https://portal.lto.gov.ph/
Who is allowed to use eDL?
According to Otayde, all motorists can use eDL, especially those who have not yet been issued a physical driver’s license.
But if they are not tech-savvy, they should have their physical driver’s license with them.
LTO enforcers also accept the temporary driver’s license printed on the bond paper with a quick response (QR) code that has the information of the holder or motorist when scanned by the LTO Law Enforcement Services and LTO deputized agents to check the authenticity.
“Ang tanan namon nga enforcers and partnered agencies, we informed them regarding sa pag-accept sang electronic nga driver’s license once maparahan,” Otayde said.
On April 21, 2023, Tugade issued a memorandum with the subject “Extension of validity of issued driver’s license.”
“In view of the ongoing procurement of Pre-Printed Driver’s License (DL) Cards for CY (calendar year) 2023 in the Department of Transportation (DOTr), and considering the already depleted supply of DL cards in almost all of the Land Transportation Office regional, district, extension and renewal offices, including licensing centers, the undersigned hereby orders the extension of validity of issued DLs about to expire beginning April 24, 2023 onwards, as a contingent measure. The said extension shall be effective until Oct. 31, or as soon as DOTr is able to procure and the winning bidder has successfully delivered the license cards, whichever comes first,” read part of the memorandum.
It added: “All holders of DL cards expiring on April 24, 2023, onwards shall no longer be required to renew their license until Oct. 31, 2023, or as soon as the DL cards become available for distribution to the public. Further, all penalties for late renewal transactions shall be waived.”
Backlogs of driver’s license in Region 6
As of July 21, 74,993 drivers in the region have yet to receive their physical driver’s licenses due to a shortage of plastic cards. The backlogs in the region were from April 24 this year.
Otayde assured they would immediately issue physical driver’s licenses once LTO-6 receives its allocation of plastic cards from the central office. She added that issuing physical driver’s licenses will be fast because they already have the driver’s information through the portal account and will only print it on plastic cards.
This week, the first batch of plastic cards from its new supplier, Banner Plasticard, Inc., was received by the new LTO chief, Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor Mendoza II.
According to LTO, the 5,000 plastic cards will be the first delivery out of the 1,000,000 cards that will be delivered within the next 60 days.
“Hopefully makabaton kami diri sa region para sa aton backlogs as of July 21. Wala pa kami sang details, basta ang ginpasiguro sang aton nga DOTr secretary is by the end of the year ma-cope or mahatag tanan nga backlogs per regional office,” said Otayde.
Below is the breakdown of the 74,993 driver’s license backlogs of LTO-6 per district office, extension office or driver’s license renewal office:
* Antique District Office – 3,304
* Barotac Viejo – 2,711
* Cadiz District Office – 2,650
* Calinog District Office – 3,794
* EB Magalona District Office – 1,375
* Guimbal Extension Office – 1,041
* Guimaras District Office – 2,409
* Himamaylan District Office – 6,413
* Kalibo District Office – 5,971
* Roxas City District Office – 6,551
* San Carlos City District Office – 2,485
* Sipalay District Office – 290
* Ponvetedra District Office – 1,276
* Sigma District Office – 846
* Iloilo Licensing Center – 5,469
* Negros Occidental Licensing Center – 7,085
* Driver’s License Renewal Office in GT Mall Pavia – 3,288
* Driver’s License Renewal Office in Festival Mall – 4,262
* Driver’s License Renewal Office in Robinson Iloilo – 3,587
* Passi City Extension Office – 844
* Pilar Extension Office – 178./PN
