No Cards, Again: LTO extends validity of expired licenses anew

Just when we thought the Land Transportation Office had finally sorted its plastic card supply issues for driver's licenses, the saga has been turned upside down yet again.

That is after the LTO has received the writ of preliminary injunction regarding the protest made by AllCard. If we recall recently, AllCard's petition was due to their disqualification from the bidding of license cards. The Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) Centralized Bids and Awards Committee disqualified AllCard from the bidding despite presenting the lowest bid of PHP 176.8 million, which was below the PHP 240.12 million approved budget for the licenses.

AllCard believes the bids and awards committee committed a grave abuse of discretion, especially when DOTr issued the award to Banner Plastic Card, Inc. in June even though the period to file a protest was not yet through.

Because of this, LTO is forced to re-extend the validity of expired driver's licenses starting this November. The agency is yet to issue an advisory as to which specific months are covered by this extension, but they say the extension will last until April 2024.

LTO Chief Atty. Vigor Mendoza II said they only have around 1.1 to 1.2 million plastic cards left for driver's licenses, and these are only enough to cover up to the June 2023 license backlogs, which is around 800,000. Mendoza said the remaining cards are prioritized for OFWs who will renew their licenses.