BY NYARIKA DOMANAIS
ILOILO City – The Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Western Visayas targets to distribute 600,000 plastic driver’s licenses this year.
Riza Otayde, information officer of LTO Region 6, said the agency’s central office was able to secure around four million plastic cards.
In the first week of this month, around 300,000 blank plastic cards on which driver’s licenses will be printed are set to be delivered by a donor organization to LTO.
The agency said that after this turnover, subsequent deliveries of 300,000 more pieces will be done every 15 days.
These movements will go on until a total of four million cards are brought to LTO. The plastic cards are worth a total of P160 million.
LTO said the items are an “unconditional donation” for drivers from the Philippine Society of Medicine for Drivers (PSMED), an association of medical clinics accredited by the agency.
Otayde said the licenses are being printed at their main office in Manila and will be forwarded to supply officers in regional offices.
She added that many of the motorists, especially those who renewed their license, complained that they were only given a temporary license printed on paper.
The LTO advised the motorists to visit their office or to coordinate with their vehicle dealers regarding their plates.
Otayde said motorists could inquire at LTO offices if their plates are already available, have already been turned over to the dealers, or have still not arrived because they also have records on their servers.
It is also the responsibility of the dealers to contact and update their clients regarding this matter, the LTO-6 information officer added. (With a report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer and K5 News FM Iloilo)/PN
