PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO/LTO

THE LAND Transportation Office (LTO) expects the delivery of 5,000 driver’s license cards before President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. delivers his second state of the nation address (SONA) on July 24.

The arrival of the cards by contractor Banner Plasticard, Inc. just before the SONA shows it could deliver on its commitment, LTO Officer-in-Charge Secretary Hector A. Villacorta told a news briefing on Monday.

The company had committed to deliver 100,000 license cards this month or in the first month of the contract. Last month, Banner won the bidding for 5.2 million driver’s license cards worth P219.24 million.

After the delivery of 5,000 cards, it is expected to deliver as many as 30,000 cards daily.

“The production of license cards will start with 15,000 to 30,000 plastic cards a day within 10 days and the promise is within 60 days, they can make 1 million plastic cards,” Mr. Villacorta said. “So the issue of lack of supply for plastic cards will be history.”

The first batch of license cards will be distributed to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and new applicants.

“What will be catered first are OFWs and student driver’s permits that matured into nonprofessional or professional licenses,” he said.

Mr. Villacorta said the launch of the electronic driver’s license would help address the concerns of physical license holders.

“We just want to assure the public that things are getting back to normal, and we have an additional form that is available, the virtual ID,” he said.

He added that the virtual license would benefit OFWs because they can use it as proof of identification. “We would have a memo to all enforcers that, that should be accepted.”

The electronic license will take effect starting next week, or 15 days after the publication of the implementing rules, Mr. Villacorta said. — Justine Irish D. Tabile

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