LTO Bureaucracy 8, No Driver's License Available

I don't understand what is really happening at the LTO, DOTC and Sec. Jun Abaya. You bring your car for the mandatory annual registration, (a) No car stickers, (b) No car plate available, And if you get a driver's license (DL), (c) No DL available, only a temporary paper license, and you pay P473 for it.

I covered my address, DL no., date of birth. When I asked one LTO officer when they will give that small laminated plastic DL, he said "mga 3-4 months po sir, balik kayo."

hayyy, dagdag abala naman yan pabalik ng LTO.

Here's a breakdown  of the P473 payment.

I asked them also when they will release the new car plate. Last month, they said "after 3-4 months" meaning by July or August. Yesterday, one staff said "mga August-September pa po sir."

1. Car stickers, about P50.

2. Car plate, P450.

3. Driver's license, P473.

All paid for by motorists and car owners, all not available.

Ano ba nangyayari dyan Sec. Jun Abaya? First time yata nangyayari ito, at mag reflect kay boss PNoy mo ito.

In the private sector, there is often over-supply especially if the sector or sub-sector is under fierce competition. That is why there are many "eat all you can" restaurants, "buy 1 take 1" shops or "weekend madness sale" malls, cheap mobile phones, etc. Entrepreneurs and suppliers anticipate demand, so they supply a lot in advance.

In contrast in government, like LTO-DOTC, supply is far far behind. Notorious inefficiency, or outright competition for robbery among factions in some government agencies. 

Plus slow MRT trains, often malfunctioning train air-con, despite the fare hikes. Plus crowded airports and things that are government-owned and operated. Good that buses and buslines are private. Otherwise, there would be shortage of buses, very crowded bus stations everyday.

I waited almost 2 hours at LTO Makati to get this temporary DL It was fast at the beginning, then slowed down later, especially in the picture taking and signature (window 4), then payment/cashier (window 7), then getting the temporary DL (window 5).

My original DL I lost to bus thieves last Wednesday who stole my wallet. A consolation that the LTO could have done, is to extend the expiry of the new DL that they will issue. My orig DL will expire in 2016. The temporary DL they issued will also expire in 2016. They could have made it May 2018 for a full 3 years DL. They did not do it, thinking that they will get more money from me and other driver's next year.

Comments from friends when I posted that temp. DL and my initial observations in  my fb wall. I did not ask permission from them to use their comments, so I am only giving their first names -- all are real people, not fictitious. Readers should focus on the ideas and sentiments, not the identity of people.

1. Bayani: they simply refuse to improve.

2. Manny: A simple agency to manage if only it is not a money-making machine for crooks! We need to privatize a lot of govt agencies and lessen govt intervention on our lives!!!

3. Paul: makapal ang mga pagmumuhak ng mga taong yan, wala silang pakialam, nasa pilipinas kasi. kaya abusado ang mga taong yan.

4. Ador: Incompetence.

5. Waltzing: PDAF may budget ninanakaw. You paid all the fees. No ID?available?

6. Jorge: Abaya us running for the senate ano kaya ang gagawin nya?

7. Ricardo: This is the noynoy-brand of decay. Tuwid na daan indeed.

Abaya, de lima, et al are all running for senate in the hopes of gaining immunity from suit for the anomalies they did that will all surface after 2016.

8. John: They should break up DOTC, merge the transport units with DPWH and create a DICT. LTO should be merged with LTRFB. Remove developmental mandates from CAAP and PPA and make them purely regulatory agencies. Outsource or privatize everything that is not regulatory in function.

9. Leo: Jun Abaya has got to be the most incompetent DOTC Secretary in its history. Nearly all the major visible public-affecting problems, e.g., MRT, LTO, LTFRB, are in his department. And despite his gross incompetence he's still there, continuing to wreak major damage to the institution and the nation.

10. Casey: Registered two cars last February. No stickers, no plates, until today. That happens when incompetents appoint other incompetents.or criminals. Look what happened at MRT. Something that never happened in 40 years. A foreign company accused the MRT crook of extortion. A foreign ambassador even came to testify about it, something never seen before. And what happens? Nothing. A huge black mark.

They prosecute senators and even the VP for corruption, which is good, if they are guilty. But prima facie evidence about the MRT heist is swept under the rug. Not exactly the straight path. The only good thing is that next year they will probably all be taken out by someone who is more honest

11. Stephen: Ricardo,  I hear what you're saying. As I did some reading in media reports I learned that the company that has been making the drivers licenses was awarded the contract in the mid 1980s. I presume, but admit that I am unclear, that the contract was awarded under Pres. Marcos. It expired at the end of 5 years, but no previous administration did anything about getting a new contract. So LTO just kept paying the uncontracted vendor. It is only now, under this administration that a real contract is being achieved. Not surprisingly that is not an easy process.

Casey: If they cannot even contract licenses and plates, can they do anything useful?

Stephen:  I am as frustrated as anyone and agree with your view. According to media reporting, LTO wants to bring the production "in-house." This is causing problems - they say - to get the printing/production machines in each of their offices. And... I am told... to overcome 25 years of comfort with the way things have been done by every administration since the mid 1980's. I don’t condone the state of affairs but merely write what I hear and read.

Nonoy: One possibility, DOTC keeps paying the vendor then sues it for inability to deliver the goods, a clear breach of contract. DOTC gets even with money then get another contractor/s to supply all the backlog. DOTC shd be ashamed of these things happening.

Ricardo: LTO hasn't been paying the plate supplier for at least year

12. Edwin: Jun Abaya is just a mere shadow of Mar Roxas - walang sariling dsisyon yung mama. Kailangan dumaan lahat kay Mar. The DOTC Action Center was converted into a Kayo ang Boss ko Action Center run by Mar Roxas people.

13. Leo:  The number one rule of this administration: if Noynoy likes you, you can do no wrong. If he doesn't like you, you can do no right.  How many YEARS does it take to renew, rebid or otherwise change a contract? Does it take 5 years?????!!!

Stephen: If media reports are accurate, its more like 25 years. Thats about when the last contract expired and nobody did anything about getting a new one til now. They just kept paying the old vendor. Same story, by the way,with some other services and other agencies and 1980's era contracts.

14. Carlos: It's actually a simple task for them, I am quite puzzled why they screwed this up. Or maybe they should get those experts in Recto to produce the licenses

Nonoy:  If DOTC's hand is tied in an existing contract, it can sue the contractor for failure to deliver the (a) car stickers, (b) car plates, (c) driver's licenses. The inconvenience to the public -- asking ALL of them to call LTO or come back after x number of months, and come back again after the specified period, the image of incompetence of the PNoy administration, etc. are huge damages.

But I think Jun Abaya is part of all these incompetence or scam. The LP should remove him from DOTC quick -- if the party is serious in stamping out corruption and inefficiency within its ranks.

15. Edison: noong huli ako nag-renew ng akin Driver's License mabilis kuha mo agad ang yon card type license matagal na yon 2 hours balita ko nga ngayon di mo makukuha yan ganyan muna issue nila babalik balikan mo pa yan bakit pauron nag paurong ang systema natin akala ko doon na mismo sa Branches ng LTO Print na nila ang Driuver's Lincense mo para kuah mo agad alam ko panahon ni marcos yan bakit bumabalik pa sa ganyan that PNoy called Tuwid na Daan bakit bumabaluktot pa dati tumagal din kasi daw panget ang INk sa pagprint ng License cards nagpalit na ng supplier ng ink ok na tapos ngyon yan ano naman ang dadahilan nila.

Papaano mapatutupad ang NO Plate No travel Policy ng LTO kung ang tagal naman mag-release ng Plate Number dami tuloy naguguluhan.

16. Francis: Abolish the LTO and DOTC. Let car registration and driving lisences be issued by vehicle vendors and insurance companies on the agreement that if someone they guarantee gets into an accident, the dealer or insurance company pays through the nose.

How many bad drivers have been certified by the LTO, DOTC? How many injuries and fatalities are they responsible for? Why are they not liable? Because they are government and government is magic.

17. Kika: Ang Nakakainis diyan is that I had to go to the U.S. and I only had the receipt. I couldn't drive! Hassle!

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See also:
LTO Bureaucracy 4: Renewing a Driver's License, circa 2013, December 11, 2013  
LTO Bureaucracy 5: No Plate Available, April 05, 2015 

LTO Bureaucracy 6: On the No Plate No Travel Prohibition, April 09, 2015 

LTO Bureaucracy 7: Cost of Annual Car Registration, April 16, 2015

LTO Bureaucracy 7: Cost of Annual Car Registration

This morning, I registered my car to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) for the mandatory annual vehicle registrations. This is the 3rd straight year I see this in my registration certificate -- "Sticker Not Available".

Direct cost, breakdown:

1. Motor vehicle user charge (MVUC) or vehicle registration tax, P2,000

2. Duplicate plates, P450

3. Computer fee, P169.06

4. Cost of stickers, P50

5. Legal research fund, P10.

Total, P2,679.06.

Ordinary sedans would have lower MVUC while SUVs and luxury cars would have higher MVUC. Mine is a pick up. 

On #1, this is a controversial tax, I think it  is not clear where the money goes, who or what agencies spend how much.  Tens of billions  of pesos yearly is collected from this tax alone.

#s 2 and 4 are missing. I was told to come back after 4-5 months to get them. Continuing LTO inefficiency here. 

#3, ???? There is a cost to the use of LTO computers, passed on to the motorists? But LTO gets its annual budget from our tax money. The MVUC should have covered this and other costs.
Same for #4.

Anyway, one does not go straight to the LTO for the car registration. One must get this emission certificate first.

The cost is P450. Emission test fee P370 + IT/Connectivity fee P80. Am wondering what is this "connectivity fee" and where does the money go.

One must also get a comprehensive third party liability (CTPL) insurance. I paid P600, haggled it down from the original price of P1,200+

So the total cost for a car registration is P2,680 + 450 + 600 = P3,730.

Plus fuel going to the emission test center, LTO, tips to the emission test guy, stencil guy.

In fairness to the LTO, it took me only about 40-45 minutes from the time I entered LTO Makati office to the time I got out. There is faster procedure now, little queuing. Until last year, it took me about 1:20 hour. 

Getting the emission test is longer. I went to the test center around 7:15 am, got a queuing number and was told to come back around 9am because there are many vehicles ahead of me. Them who were not accommodated the previous day, or were there before 7am. I came back 9am, was out after about 40 minutes.

LTO bureaucracy is still bad with those "Sticker not available" and "Plates not available" notes. This should not be happening. You get our money, you should deliver those permits. Plus various mandatory costs like emission tests, computerization fee, etc.

One saving grace for LTO is that it is now much faster, easier, to register our vehicles. Give credit where it is due. Thanks LTO for this improvement. 

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See also:
LTO Bureaucracy 3: Endless Fines and Penalties, November 02, 2011 
LTO Bureaucracy 4: Renewing a Driver's License, circa 2013, December 11, 2013  
LTO Bureaucracy 5: No Plate Available, April 05, 2015 

LTO Bureaucracy 6: On the No Plate No Travel Prohibition, April 09, 2015

LTO Bureaucracy 6: On the No Plate No Travel Prohibition

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano posted today this poster in his fb page with this note,

Sen. Alan Cayetano is asking for a moratorium/suspension of the No Registration, No Travel policy of the LTO.

Ayusin muna systema ng Lto at supply ng plaka.

Serve the people, don't hassle them.

Within 2+ hours, there were 7,300+ likes and 1,265 shares, and counting. Very powerful message, it attracted huge public attention.

The comments are in the hundreds too. I copy-pasted the more relevant ones, posting them below. With comments like these, only very insensitive, very opportunist, very corrupt people will not be rattled and affected.

As one saying goes, "the purpose of government is to expand the government." It  is clear in this case. Government's main business is prohibition. Certain prohibitions are useful, like No killing and murder, No abduction and rape, No stealing and destruction of other people's properties.

But when prohibitions expand too much, individual freedom is sacrificed and curtailed. In this case, the freedom  of individuals to drive their own new cars and motorcycles because the LTO has problems releasing the car plates.
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See also:
LTO Bureaucracy 2: Renewing a Driver's License, October 26, 2010 
LTO Bureaucracy 3: Endless Fines and Penalties, November 02, 2011 
LTO Bureaucracy 4: Renewing a Driver's License, circa 2013, December 11, 2013  
LTO Bureaucracy 5: No Plate Available, April 05, 2015

LTO Bureaucracy 4: Renewing a Driver's License, circa 2013

I noticed only recently that my driver's license has already expired, in October this year. So this afternoon, I went to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) satellite office at the Ayala MRT station in Makati. I entered around 2:25pm, got my license and left at 3:58pm or total of 1:33 waiting time. This is longer than my previous experiences in the same office six years and three years ago. A driver's license expires every three years.

Six procedures, not four as the diagram at the LTO office would depict.

1. Show your soon expiring or expired license at Window 1, they will give you a license renewal form, instruct you to undergo a "medical exam".
2. Go to the next room, pay P100, and go through a "medical exam."
3. Go back to Window 1 and submit the filled up renewal form plus the certificate that you have passed the medical exam.
4. Have your photo taken plus give your electronic signature, Window 2.
5. Pay at Cashier, Window 4.
6. Get your new license, Window 3.

The "medical exam/test", you enter a small room, they get your weight, height, asks your normal blood pressure (no actual BP measurement is taken), asks you to read one line of those small random letters with your right eye close, then with the left eye close, and it's done, you have "passed" the medical test, done in 1-2 minutes. Done by J n W Drug Testing Center.

A summary of my experience in renewing a driver's license at LTO, Ayala MRT station office.

Six years ago, October 2007:
Total time spent: 55 minutes
Total fees paid: P350 + P277.63 = P627.63
Drug test fee 250 + medical test 100 = P350
License fee 180 + computerization fee 67.63 + revision of records fee (changed my address) 30 = P277.63

Three years ago, October 2010:
Total time spent: 1:20 hour
Total payment: P817.63
composed of: License fee 350, Computer fee P 67.63, drug test fee P300.00, Medical fee P100.00

December 2013:
Total time spent: 1:33 hour
Total payment: P592.63
composed of: Medical fee P100 + License fee 350 + Computerization fee 67.63 + penalty for late renewal 75

So, over the past six years, there is one improvement, they removed the drug testing procedure and payment of P300. But the waiting time remains high, more than one hour. With continued technological development almost anywhere, things should have been faster.

The aircon was pathetic. One should sit at the inner seats, away from the door, to feel the "con", otherwise, it's just hot air near the door.

Government is really slow, at adapting to changes, if changing at all. That computer fee should be abolished. Even grade schoolers now use computers and laptops in their schools, how much more with a huge government agency like DOTC and LTO.

I heard that in Singapore, a driver's license is for a lifetime. It is only removed or cancelled if the driver gets involved in a serious accident and it was the driver's fault, or the driver has committed repeated violations of certain traffic rules.

We should adopt the same practice here. But given the generally corrupt culture in the government, it is not going to happen soon.
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See also:
LTO Bureaucracy 1: Hidden Costs in Vehicle Registration, May 04, 2010
LTO Bureaucracy 2: Renewing a Driver's License, October 26, 2010 
LTO Bureaucracy 3: Endless Fines and Penalties, November 02, 2011