Tough License Procedure Awaits Applicants at the LTO

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – An arduous and stringent process awaits applicant to obtain a non-professional driving license at any offices nationwide of the Land Transportation Office.
The new law, according to a brass here, provides that before an applicant avail of the non-professional license he or she must undergoes a 15 hours lecture, driving lesson, and practical examination at an accredited driving school.
“If they pass bibigyan sila ng certification ng driving school before they secure their student permit,” this capital town’s Land Transportation Office's chief  Aileen Tanguilig-Peteros explained. 
She cited that the certification will  be used by the applicant to apply one month after its issuance  at the LTO for a non-professional driving license.

 An automated logbook and closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras will be installed in these driving schools to ensure that applicants have undergone driving lessons.

TOUGH. Aileen Tanguilig-Peteros explains the nuances of the new arduous procedures to be adapted by the LTO in April 6 for driver’s license applicants.

                                       NON PROF DRIVING LICENSE

Upon application for the non-professional license the LTO will give an official receipt (O.R) to the applicant that he or she could use to  apply for another rounds of lecture and practical test  using another modules at the driving school.
“Oo (dito LTO) same process na meron kayo uli na mental exam eche-check iyong ability mo sa knowledge mo sa traffic laws and violations, practical exam, iyong driving test. Before ka maguumpisa dito  mag apply dapat dumaan ka uli doon sa driving school separate,” Peteros cited.
She agreed to the observation of this writer that driver’s license applicant undergoes this stringent procedure to avoid vehicular accident in the future.
“Yes, just like how Americans apply for their driving license”.

                                         PROF DRIVING LICENSE
LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galivante said that another round of theoretical and practical examinations are needed before an applicant obtain a professional license one year after securing his or her non-professional driving license.
He also said that the LTO will begin to implement the 10-year validity of driver’s license by October 2021 as directed by Congress.
Galivante however explained that not all who will apply for a license by the time of the implementation will be given a 10-year license’s validity,” he clarified.


                                               DEMERIT SYSTEM
The LTO chief said that the agency is set to implement a penalty point or demerit point system wherein the validity of the license will be based on the driver’s number of violations.
“We will be implementing a demerit system wherein there will be a threshold that if the driver exceeds the allowable number of violations, the license that will be given will be less than 10 years. If the record is clean and there is no violation, they will be given a 10-year license validity,” he clarified.
With these changes, Galivante reminded the public that having a driver’s license is a privilege.
This town’s LTO Chief Peteros said that even license holders are penalized by requiring them to attend seminar conducted by the LTO.
She cited, for example, that a driver or a passenger who did not use a seat belt will be be meted with demerit or demerits at the expense's of the license holder.
If a private car’s driver or passenger is caught without buckling down his seat belt means one point violation. It will be two points however for a public utility vehicle driver or passenger that the driver will absorb.
“If one of them (private and PUV drivers) committed ten demerits in any traffic violation the seminar will be lengthy based on hours,” she explained.

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