DOTr Targets to Acquire at Least 500K Driver's License Cards by July

MANILA: The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is now finalizing its acquisition of at least 500,000 driver's license cards by July after the Land Transportation Office (LTO) had a shortage of plastic cards.

This was guaranteed by DOTr Secretary Jaime Baustista during the public inquiry conducted by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee yesterday.

“Right now, there's an ongoing procurement. There is already the lowest bidder. We are just doing a post-qualification of the lowest calculated bid,” Bautista stated.

“If we will be able to finalize this, if we will qualify the lowest bidder, we should be able to get maybe 500,000 licenses in July,” he added.

Bautista said that there are currently 690,000 driver's licenses waiting to be issued by the LTO.

He claimed that there are about 70,000 plastic cards on hand, but they are reserved for Filipino employees abroad.

The validity of driver's licenses that expired from April 24, 2023 has been extended until October 21, 2023.

The inquiry was in response to Senate Resolution 147 filed by Senate Minority Leader Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, asking the panel to look into the alleged undue payment made by the LTO to the joint venture of Dermalog Identification System, Holy Family Printing Corp., Microgenesis, and Verzontal Builders.

Sen. Imee Marcos also filed Senate Resolution 348 ordering the Blue Ribbon to look into allegations of corruption surrounding the LTO's project of developing an IT infrastructure for road transportation.

Photo from Department of Transportation and Land Transportation Office

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