Another 2.2 million plastic cards are scheduled to be delivered to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) within a month and a half to narrow the backlog on plastic-printed driver’s licenses.
“After 45 days after the delivery of the 1 million, there will be around 2.2 million more plastic cards that will be delivered. So, this will be enough to address the backlog on driver’s licenses,” Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime Bautista said during Wednesday’s inspection at the LTO Central Office in Quezon City.
He stated that the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will continue to examine these delivered plastic cards to see if they are in compliance with regulations and have a 10-year lifespan.
“There were added security features, which the LTO knows, and at the same time, we also want the DOST to check if these plastic cards would last up to 10 years because, as you all know, 10 years na maximum validity ng ating mga driver’s license,” Bautista said.
Once cleared by the DOST, he said, the cards will be delivered to LTO regional offices to be processed and will be ready for claiming by April 15.
Some 1 million plastic cards were delivered to the LTO on Monday, after the Court of Appeals (CA) lifted the writ of preliminary injunction issued by a Quezon City court on the delivery of the remaining 3.2 million plastic cards from Banner Plastic, Inc.
Bautista lauded the efforts of the LTO and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) in coming up with strong arguments that led to the lifting of the injunction.
According to the CA’s ruling, the lower court that issued the injunction order shouldn’t have accepted the losing bidder’s case because it filed a lawsuit right away without following the administrative appeals process.
“The decision of the Court of Appeals only vindicated the decision of our Bids and Awards Committee. And we in the DOTr are elated that the Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals agreed with the arguments we raised,” he said. (PNA)
