LTO: 5k plastic cards to arrive before PBBM SONA

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has announced today that at least 5,000 driver’s license plastic cards will arrive before next week’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) by President, Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos, Jr.

During a press briefing, Assitant Secretary, Hector Villacorta, said the LTO expects Banner Plasticard, Inc. to produce 15,000 to 30,000 cards daily within 10 days as part of its commitment to deliver 1 million cards in the next 60 days.

“Just maybe 5,000 copies. The paper will surely be out of date because the production of license cards will start with 15,000 to 30,000 plastic cards a day within 10 days and the promise is within 60 days they can make 1 million plastic cards so the issue of lack of supply for plastic cards will be history,” said Villacorta.

OFWs, new applicants priority

According to Asec. Villacorta, the first batch of plastic cards will be prioritized for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and new driver’s license applicants. “Actually, OFWs and Student Permit holders that will mature to Non-Pro or Professional [driver’s license] will be prioritized.”

He further added that, he is positive that Banner Plasticard, Inc., can deliver as agreed after he visited their Pasig facility just recently. “I’ve seen the factory here in Pasig and they showed me that they can do 15,000 to 30,000 copies every day,” he said.

e-DL now available on LTMS

The LTO chief also reminded motorists that the digital version of their driver’s licenses (e-DL) is now available on the agency’s Land Transportation Management System (LTMS). “We just want to assure the public that things are getting back to normal and we have an additional form that is available, the virtual ID,” he said, adding that the virtual ID will be advantageous to OFWs, who may present the digital copy as proof of identification.

“You can show the e-DL and we would have a memo to all enforcers that [it] should be accepted,” he said.