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A Quezon City Regional Trial Court issued a writ of preliminary injunction temporarily stopping the delivery of plastic driver’s licenses to the Land Transportation Office
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The injunction is pending the posting of a P6-million bond by the petitioner, Allcard Inc
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If the injunction becomes effective, the LTO will be unable to provide licenses for those applying in November and December
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To prevent further delays next year, LTO sought permission from the Department of Transportation to expedite bidding for the supply of 4.6 million licenses in 2024
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The possibility of a government-to-government contract with the National Printing Office to supply driver’s licenses is also under consideration
A Quezon City Regional Trial Court (QC RTC) issued a writ of preliminary injunction temporarily stopping the delivery of plastic driver’s licenses to the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II in a press conference on October 23 said the injunction is pending the posting of a P6-million bond by the petitioner, Allcard Inc. As of October 20, Allcard has not yet submitted the required bond.
Allcard, the previous supplier of driver’s licenses cards, lost this year’s bidding to supply plastic driver’s licenses. In August, a QC RTC issued a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) on the award of contract to the winning bidder, Banner Plasticard, Inc., following a petition from Allcard.
Unlike the previous 20-day TRO, the new writ of preliminary injunction will remain in effect until the court reaches a final decision or issues a new order that withdraws the injunction. This could occur through a motion for reconsideration or a reversal by the Court of Appeals, Mendoza said.
If the injunction becomes effective, LTO will be unable to provide licenses for those applying in November and December. They can only supply the backlog from May and June, which will be delivered in November and December. LTO may also revert to issuing paper driver’s licenses as a result.
An automatic extension until April 2024 will be granted for licenses expiring in November and December and onwards. Mendoza said a formal memo on this will be issued if the injunction becomes effective.
READ: LTO extends driver’s license validity to April 2024
As of now, LTO continues to produce driver’s licenses for applications made in April. The supplier has delivered 1.9 million licenses out of the total 5.2 million in the contract.
RELATED READ: LTO resumes renewal of expired licenses
To prevent further delays next year, Mendoza said LTO has sought permission from the Department of Transportation to expedite bidding for the supply of 4.6 million licenses in 2024. Starting the bidding process now could lead to a contract award by January 2024.
He added the 4.6 million licenses would meet demand for the first to third quarters of 2024 and for November and December 2023. The possibility of a government-to-government contract with the National Printing Office to supply driver’s licenses is also under consideration.
As a long-term solution, a technical working group is studying electronic driver’s licenses (e-DL) for domestic use. The introduction of e-DLs could potentially save the government around P300 to P400 million per year.
In a related development, Mendoza said LTO is in the final stages of consolidating the old LTO system with the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) and aims to launch it before the end of November.
“By consolidating these two systems, I am confident that these would result in full utilization of a user-friendly online transaction process which is what the LTO digitalization program envisions it to be,” Mendoza said in a separate statement.
He noted there are some services that could not be served by the LTMS and remain under the old system, thus, the need for consolidation.
While driver’s license issuance is now 100% under LTMS, motor vehicle registration renewal is at 90% LTMS, and newly-registered units, previously managed under the old IT system, are now at 60% LTMS.
