DOTC: Here are 25 LTO sites activated for the issuance of driver’s licenses

From topgear.com.ph:
By Vernon B. Sarne

If you’re tired of hearing that the Land Transportation Office can’t provide that small plastic card that serves as everyone’s official driver’s license, and yours is already up for renewal, here’s some good news: The Department of Transportation and Communications has just announced that 25 LTO sites have been activited for the primary purpose of issuing driver’s licenses. And when we say “licenses,” we understand that to mean plastic cards, not pathetic pieces of paper like the one you see in the photo above.

These 25 LTO sites are located in Metro Manila (NCR), Region 3, Region 4-A and Region 8. Here is the list of said sites:

* Angeles District Office
* Batangas Licensing Center
* Biñan Licensing Center
* Bulacan Licensing Center
* Cavite Licensing Center
* Caloocan Licensing Extension Office
* La Loma District Office
* Las Piñas Licensing Extension Office
* Makati Licensing Center
* Mandaluyong Extension Office
* Manila East District Office
* Manila Licensing Center
* Manila Renewal Section
* Manila South District Office
* Marikina District Office
* Muntinlupa District Office
* Pampanga Licensing Center
* Parañaque Extension Office
* Pasay Licensing Center
* Pasig District Office
* Quezon City District Office
* San Juan Licensing Center
* Tacloban Licensing Center
* Taguig Extension Office
* Valenzuela District Office

We have no idea where exactly these LTO sites are erected, but we imagine someone truly desperate to get his license card will go to great lengths to find them–possibly even if they’re located in some godforsaken hellhole surrounded by terrorists.

Tasked to produce the plastic cards is newly anointed supplier Allcard Plastics Philippines, which is said to have magically commendably come up with a bid that was “25.3% lower than the P450-million budget for the contract.” According to the DOTC, that means the license cards will now cost just P67.37 per piece to produce.

Allcard is expected to deliver a total of five million license cards over 12 months.

Our good friend LTO chief Alfonso Tan Jr. has been quoted as saying: “We will print licenses during Saturdays and after office hours on weekdays, in order to erase the current backlog of around 900,000 licenses by the beginning of October this year.”

Our editorial staff is seriously rooting for the LTO peeps to hit their target. Not because we believe in them but because our very own licenses are expiring soon.

And once the agency has managed to finally supply all the license cards it owes the motoring public, you should know that these licenses will sport new, color-coded designs. Student drivers will be issued orange cards; PUV conductors will be given yellow cards; and professional and nonprofessional drivers will both be furnished with the current blue cards.

We wish the LTO the best of luck as it works to fix the license-card deficiency that could end up being the defining hallmark of the Aquino administration (next to all the finger-pointing, of course).