Monday, September 08, 2008 Transport groups hit driver's license card quality
TWO major transport groups raised concerns regarding the quality of the plastic license cards issued by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to drivers in the country.
The 200,000-strong Pagkakaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston) and the United Transport Alliance Koalisyon (1-Utak) both said the poor quality of driver's licenses being given by the LTO more often than not gets their respective members into trouble with traffic law enforcement groups.
They complained that the driver's license plastic cards that are being used by the LTO are of such poor quality that pictures and pertinent information easily fade making it difficult and sometimes impossible to read causing problems for both motorists and traffic enforcers from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and local government units (LGUs).
George San Mateo, Piston secretary general, noticed the problem with the driver's license cards and is asking the LTO to have the company -- Amalgamated Motors of the Philippines Incorporated (Ampi) -- address the problem.
"The LTO or the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) should ask the supplier to improve the quality of driver's licenses. But it should not be used as a reason to increase driver's license fees," San Mateo said.
For his part, Lawyer Vigor Mendoza, 1-Utak president said he does not know how many of the almost 10 million driver's license holders in the country have experienced problems that he himself has encountered when he get his license.
He said his group is scheduled to meet with LTO chief Alberto Suansing to discuss the problem regarding hard-to-read licenses with faded pictures and blurry printed information.
"Actually, even my driver's license had the same problem, in fact, I was accosted once by an enforcer and had trouble verifying the information in my license. What if it happened to a public utility driver, they certainly will get into trouble and might even result in mulcting," Mendoza said.
He said the issue of sub-standard driver's license ID cards is one of their concerns that need to be addressed although he admitted that the issue is being overtaken by other matters concerning land transportation.
"If majority of the 10 million motorists have had the same problem on their licenses then it could become a major problem," the transport leader added.
In an earlier statement, John Garcia, spokesman for Ampi Mega, admitted that they have been aware of the problem for two years now although he said the problem is with the materials supplied to them.
He also advised all driver's license holders not to place their licenses on plastic jackets.
Ampi's printing technology which uses the dye-sublimation thermal transfer process was supposedly able to cut the processing time for driver's license cards from three month to 30 minutes, however a LTO official said under this system, quality was sacrificed.
The LTO source also added that he is aware that Ampi still has several millions of these sub-standard driver's license plastic cards in their inventory and these cards are being used to replace the numerous requests for replacement.
The source added that in effect, these same people whose cards have been replaced will come back in three to six months time to have their licenses replaced again. (AH/Sunnex)
