LTO opens backlog printing sites to hasten 3.6-M pending licenses

The Land Transportation Office on Friday opened seven offsite printing offices to hasten the processing and issuance of driver's licenses to around 3.6 million applicants in its backlog.

According to Tina Panganiban-Perez in her report on Balitanghali, applicants can proceed to the backlog printing sites at the LTO-NCR office, as well as offices set up in SM malls in Regions III, IV, XI, and the NCR.

LTO opened today 7 printing sites to address the driver’s license backlog. @gmanews https://t.co/3plnjf3Y3l pic.twitter.com/Ks3UAD8R6H

— Tina PanganibanPerez (@tinapperez) October 6, 2017

The LTO-NCR office extended its hours from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m whereas the other six printing sites will follow mall hours. Offices will also be printing out licenses on weekends.

With the additional offices, the LTO expects to print 7,000 licenses a day.

"We're printing about 7,000 backlog every day now. We started from 1,000," LTO-NCR regional director Clarence Guinto said.

However, the LTO said the process may still experience delays since the system of encoding data, picture-taking and fingerprint scanning depend on the speed of internet connection.

"You know, our system is highly internet-dependent. When all our district office(s) experience slow time, our operation is also affected," he added.

The LTO advised all sites to make the wait for applicants convenient. The waiting time includes 10 minutes allotted for the actual printing of each license.

The agency added no additional budget was spent in setting up the offsite printing stations since it is making use of existing machines.

Moreover, SM Supermalls reportedly lent its facilities for free.

The transport office aims to issue all 3.6 million backlog licenses, 1.2 million applicants of which come from the NCR, by January 2018.

Of the 7,000 licenses to be processed daily, 4,000 of these are renewals.

The new licenses issued with a 5-year validity are laser-engraved onto sturdier polycarbonate material.

Additional features include the inclusion of the driver's biometric data, blood type,  and an indication whether or not the driver is an organ donor. —Margaret Claire Layug/KG, GMA News