LTO chief ready to face House probe

Over shortage of license plates, plastic cards

MANILA, Philippines — Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Jay Art Tugade yesterday welcomed the planned inquiry by the House of Representatives into the shortage of license plates and plastic cards for driver’s licenses.

Tugade also declared an impending shortage in the supply of license plates for motorcycles and four-wheeled vehicles.

House Deputy Minority Leader Bernadette Herrera has filed a resolution seeking an investigation on the shortage of plastic cards.

“We welcome the House resolution. We are looking forward to aiding Congress in crafting laws to improve our procurement processes,” Tugade said.

He explained that the shortage of plastic cards and license plates may be attributed to the Department of Transportation’s order, which directed DoTr attached agencies to forward to its central office the procurement of supplies amounting to P50 million and above.

“When we received the internal policy in January, almost every week we sent a letter to the DoTr, requesting the department to reconsider the special order because we did not want to run out of plastic cards and license plates. Our requests were denied,” Tugade said.

Based on the LTO estimates, Tugade said the license plates for motorcycles would be depleted by end-June, and July for four-wheeled vehicles.

“Based on our inventory, we have almost one million license plates for motorcycles nationwide. For motor vehicles, we still have 300,000 plates,” he said. “We were ready for the procurement, but we recognized the DoTr’s authority over the LTO.”

Tugade said funding of P4.5 billion has been allotted for the procurement of license plates.

The LTO is preparing contingencies to address the possible shortage of license plates, he said.

Tugade has approved the extension of the validity of expired driver’s licenses until Oct. 31 to resolve the shortage of plastic cards.

According to Tugade, the LTO uses at least 30,000 plastic cards daily for the driver’s licenses.

The delays in releasing driver’s license cards by the LTO is unacceptable, Sen. Grace Poe said yesterday.

“From license cards to motorcycle and car plates, the LTO has earned a notorious reputation of delivering short of what is expected,” Poe said.

“Thorough planning and estimation might help the LTO be up-to-date with its requirements. It can’t always tell the people to rely on band-aid measures, which pose security risks and are prone to abuse,” she added.

Poe urged the LTO to be transparent by reporting to the public the reason for the delay in the release of driver’s license cards and “give a complete picture of the issues it is facing.” – Cecille Suerte Felipe