When news of the Land Transportation Office’s announcement of the extension of driver’s license validity hit the motoring public, arms were up in the air, confused and disappointed by these turn of events. Previously, the government agency had been printing the driver’s license on regular paper, which had already caused the public much frustration, as regular paper wears out quickly and is prone to damage from the elements. How could such an important and vital piece of government document that is a necessity for everyday life be affixed to such a flimsy media? This also opens itself to fraud as not everyone will have a QR Code reader and reliable mobile data to access the internet and verify the authenticity of the printed driver’s license on the piece of paper, but that’s a totally different matter in itself.
This no driver’s license card issue affects roughly 5.2 million drivers nationwide according to the Land Transportation Office. While there are still a few hundred thousand cards left, scattered throughout various LTO offices across the country, the supply will soon run out by the end of April, well before government can find a permanent solution of finding a reputable plastic card supplier and address the no plastic driver’s license card issue.
Of course, the cynic in all of us are thinking: Why not sub-contract it to the counterfeit ID and document makers in the U-Belt area in Manila? They never seem to have any shortage in raw materials anyway!
Seriously though, I did some basic asking around and the official reason for the lack of shortage is a new department order that was issued in January of this year, requiring all procurement involving 50 million pesos or higher be coursed through the main or mother agency of the LTO, the Department of Transportation (DOTr). This is all well and good, and assuming the government can speed up the process for requisition, bidding, approval and payment. The Filipino people welcome heightened financial control and discipline to help curb and eliminate corruption in the agency and the government in general, of course.
But as with most government rules and regulations, while these internal policies and procedural changes are good, for the most part, implementation is always pathetically thought-out, with implementing rules and regulations an after-thought, a half-baked unrealistic plan of action. This no driver’s license card scenario is the perfect example. The proper way to implement this change is to have a workable and realistically amenable interim plan. Stockpile on the driver’s license card (maybe half a million pieces), building up the buffer supply good for six to 12 months based on monthly demand while the DOTr implements the centralized procurement process, finding suppliers and working out the kinks on a totally new policy. This, rather than the LTO be caught completely flat-footed with no respectable and professional, not to mention half-decent and passable solution to a problem that was obvious and apparent from as early as January of this year. Possibly even Q3 or Q4 of 2022 as most decisions don’t just suddenly pop up on a whim but are of course done with supporting discussions that support the validity, legality and plain logic of such a plan of action. In short, the LTO most likely knew, but it sat on its hands and didn’t do anything proactive to address the problem.
This isn’t even a Third World problem, but a problem caused by lazy and incompetent people which key positions in our government always seem to have. I feel for all the hardworking people in government since they seem to be led by the worst type of people who lack any common sense. If the government were a corporation, it would have declared bankruptcy many times over simply because the professional managers lacked foresight to plan ahead, focusing on business continuity.
The temporary unavailability of the driver’s license card itself is not in itself a huge issue. The real worrying issue is what else will be affected by poor decision-making by these people in charge in the future. Issues that could be more serious, more damaging, more embarrassing and more paralyzing for the daily lives of Filipinos in the future, given how these people, who are supposed to be the best in their respective fields, can come up with. Okay, let’s forget ‘best in their field’ for a moment. But at least half decent professionals in charge of our country and its constituents? Filipinos deserve better managers and decision-makers in government.
