WITH the series of unfortunate events that happened in Cebu and Central Visayas brought by the recent Typhoon Odette following its continuing restoration and surge of the new Covid variant - Omicron with Alert Level 3 restrictions, Land Transportation Office (LTO) Central Visayas would like to ask the transacting public to extend their patience with transactions in the agency.
LTO Central Visayas regional director Victor Emmanuel Caindec said that aside from the current level status imposed on the island of Cebu, the director revealed that a lot of their employees tested positive for Covid-19.
"Logically, it's not just shortage of personnel, who were inflicted with Covid," adding that due to Typhoon Odette some of the offices are experiencing issues with the internet connection.
"Our internet connections even in malls are not running at the same bandwidths now compared to their normal speed before, plus more erratic connectivity," revealed Caindec.
He added that LTO Central Visayas offices were also badly hit by Typhoon Odette and major offices like Lapu-Lapu City Licensing Center in Island Central Mall, Cebu City Mega Licensing Center in SM Seaside, Mandaue City District Office in J Center Mall and DLRO in SM City Cebu are not yet on full operational capability due to the impact of internet speed on the IT system.
This is on top of the Alert Level 3 being implemented in Cebu by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID).
With Alert Level 3, only 30 percent of the total capacity of indoor venues is allowed resulting in very limited allowed capacity in every office under the level restriction.
Caindec reminded the public that the Government has given an extension to the public for both registration and renewal of licenses.
LTO has given all Student-Driver's Permit (SP), Driver's License, and Conductor's License holders extension for those that expired in January, February, and March 2022 will be extended until the end of March, April, and May, respectively.
"Registrations of all motor vehicles with plates ending in “0” shall be extended until the end of January 2022 and plates ending in “1” shall be extended until the end of February 2022 without collection of surcharge and/or penalty," in an advisory released by the agency.
Likewise, expiration for the Temporary Operator's Permit is also extended.
"The public can follow our official Facebook page so that they will be notified with the updates from our agency," said Caindec. (PR)