LTO chief inclined to abolish LTMS portal, says system used by license fixers

The Land Transportation Office is considering the abolition of the Land Transportation Management System, which is allegedly being used by fixers to renew other individuals' driver licenses.

At the Senate Committee on Finance's hearing on the Department of Transportation's (DOTr) proposed P167.12-billion budget in 2023, LTO chief Teofilo Guadiz III said 75 to 80 percent of those taking the examinations under the LTMS could be persons other than those renewing their licenses.

"In most of these cases, I would say 75 to 80 percent, it is another person who is taking the seminar, it is another person who is taking the examination. We feel that this is reprehensible," Guadiz told the Senate panel.

"So we are evaluating this and my inclination is just to totally abolish this portal," he added.

Under the current set-up, Guadiz said that there was no facial recognition system which would allow the LTO to verify if the individual renewing his or her license was the one undergoing the seminar or taking the examination.

"Kulang lang yung app ng facial recognition to effectively use the portal. If that feature is added, hindi na pwedeng mandaya dahil dapat kitang kita nung portal yung nag-eexam," Guadiz said.

"We’re in that process now of developing this facial recognition not only in this portal in renewing drivers’ license but our future plan is the driver license renewal will now be done online," he added.

Senator Grace Poe asked the LTO to submit a progress report on the LTMS.

The LTO is also looking to cut the 15-hour theoretical seminar for driver's license applicants to just seven hours, Guadiz said.

Poe questioned the extensive requirement for theoretical seminars.

She said this was only mandated by the LTO's rules but not by law.

Guadiz said the LTO already convened a technical working group to address this issue. He agreed that 15 hours was too long especially for those who had jobs.

"We feel that 15 hours may be a little long and we feel that three days of seminar maybe quite [extensive], especially for those working people," Guadiz said.

"I'm looking at the possibility of reducing it to as much as seven hours for theoretical (seminar). However, for the practical, I still subscribe that eight hours of lesson is needed [due to] the continuing crashes in the road," he added.

Guadiz said the LTO was already in dialogue with driving schools to come up with an acceptable number of hours. —NB, GMA News