LTO-7 Starts Rollout of Driver’s License with Five-Year Validity

The Land Transportation Office (LTO-7) in Central Visayas started its rollout of the driver’s license with five-year validity on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018.

A ceremonial processing and printing of the driver’s license cards was held together with Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) Sec. Michael Dino, Rep. Peter John Calderon of the 7th District of Cebu, Provincial Board Member Christopher Baricuatro, and Carol Ballesteros of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAF) representing the private sector.

The whole process and printing took them less than five minutes.

Sec. Dino, in an interview, told reporters that this just shows the agency’s efficiency under the Duterte administration.

“If you noticed, from A to Z, it just took me less than five or maximum of five minutes, nakuha na nako akong lisensya (I got my license). So, very, very efficient,” he added.

Image Source: pia.gov.ph

Dino, together with the other officials present, were the first ones who received their driver’s license with five-year validity.

Last year, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 10930 which formally extended the validity of the licenses from three to five years.

Alita Pulga, acting regional director of LTO-7, told reporters that there are only eight offices that are releasing these license cards, namely: Cebu City Licensing Center, Lapu-Lapu City Extension Office, Danao City District Office, Talisay City Extension Office, Carcar City District Office, and Toledo City District Office in Cebu province.

In Negros Oriental, the offices releasing the license cards with five-year validity are DLRO Robinsons Dumaguete City and Bayawan City District Office.

Pulga explained they are still addressing the issues on internet connection in their other offices in Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor.

Releasing of the licenses are done from Mondays to Fridays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Pulga revealed that they also need to address the 343,917 backlogs in the printing of the driver’s license cards in the region.

Due to this, the said eight offices will be open during Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. to cater to backlog transactions only.

Those who want to claim their license cards are required to present his/her temporary driver’s license or the official receipt of their driver’s license transaction.

They will also be asked to provide additional information such as blood type, emergency contact person, emergency contact address, and emergency contact number to be encoded in their system. (PIA7/Carmel Loise Matus)