The Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) backlog of driver’s licenses has increased to 690,000 from 200,000 in May, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said Thursday.

Bautista revealed this during a hearing by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

“Right now, we have a shortage of driver’s licenses. As of today, we have only around 70,000 ID cards available nationwide and are reserving these for the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) because they need those IDs. the backlog has reached 690,000,” he said.

Senator Francis Tolentino, Blue Ribbon committee chairman, earlier questioned why the backlog from May 2 which stood at 234,149 increased to about 500,000.

Bautista said that if they are able to finalize the procurement, they could procure 500,000 driver’s licenses by next month. Jaspearl Tan/DMS