The Land Transportation Office (LTO) said there will no longer be a backlog of plastic cards for driver’s licenses and vehicle plates starting in July.

In a Palace briefing, LTO Chief Vigor Mendoza II said that with the Department of Transportation (DOTr), he reported this to President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.

“We have sufficient driver’s license cards to support the demand for until end of the year. More than 9.7 million cards were bid out by the DOTr and LTO. So there is no reason why we will not have enough cars for the entire year. Because of this, by July 1 this year, we should not have any backlogs. And we can see that we are on track,” Mendoza said.

“Those whose licenses expired on April 30 have renewed their cards and even those whose licenses have renewed them. We are continuously renewing cards,” he said.

“In terms of motor vehicles, the President was very clear on this, we have to be strict with our dealers. We see that some plates are just being hoarded by dealers and they are not distributing it to motorists. So we met with the dealers and agreed that from the time that a person pays or buys a vehicle, within 11 days, their plate, the OR/CR, and the RFID stickers would be given to them. So, there’s no reason why this will not happen,” he added.

Mendoza encouraged drivers with paper licenses to head to their local LTOs and get their plastic cards within this month. Jaspearl Tan/DMS