GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 06 Jan) — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Region 12 will start releasing the undelivered plastic license cards of drivers in the region before the end of the month.
Macario Gonzaga, LTO Region 12 director on Friday said the plastic driver’s license cards for the region are scheduled to arrive by the third week of January as set by their central office and its provider.
He did not cite the number of license cards that would be delivered but said they expect it would ease the backlog of their district offices within the region’s four provinces and five cities.
The agency earlier noted that the region’s backlog for the plastic driver’s license cards is around 200,000.
“We’re hoping that it will be delivered as scheduled so we can also start releasing them,” Gonzaga said in an interview over TV Patrol Socsksargen.
Region 12 comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and North Cotabato, and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.
LTO central office earlier listed a backlog of around three million nationwide for the undelivered plastic driver’s license cards.
Last year, a regional trial court in Manila issued a temporary restraining order against LTO’s plastic card supplier Allcard Plastic Philippines Inc. for supposedly not undergoing the proper bidding process.
Aside from this, Gonzaga said they are currently reviewing the processes involved in various transactions handled by their district offices.
He said the move is in compliance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive for the rationalization of the processes to ensure convenience for their clients.
“We’re working on making the processes faster based on our mandate and the marching orders of the President,” he said.
He said they also deferred the renewal of more than 100 job order workers in their district offices due to complaints of alleged irregularities.
He added that most of the complaints involved their traffic enforcers. (MindaNews)