DOTr plans to procure 500,000 driver's license cards by July 2023

It seems the Land Transportation Office's (LTO) woes with license cards could get some respite next month.

With a backlog of around 690,000 license cards, the LTO is faced with delivering them in due time. Luckily for them, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has announced they are currently finalizing the procurement of at least 500,000 driver's license cards by July 2023.

This comes straight from DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista who assured lawmakers about the availability of driver's license cards last Thursday during a public inquiry by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee last Thursday.

“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. 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,” said Bautista.

Around 70,000 plastic cards are still available at LTO renewal centers added Bautista. However, the DOTr Secretary mentioned that these are reserved for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). There was also no update if the National Printing Office (NPO) will be able to help the DOTr print license cards.

With the LTO and DOTr facing a backlog issue, we sure hope that both agencies will be able to distribute the driver's license cards immediately to awaiting motorists.