The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is in
a bit of a pickle right now,
with the looming shortage
of ID cards that will see
driver’s licenses temporarily printed on paper until
the latter half of the year.
The agency, however, may
have found a solution.
Together with the
Department of Information and Communications
Technology (DICT), the
LTO is now set to launch
a ‘digital driver’s license’
that will serve as an al
ternative to the physical
cards that the agency normally issues.
The digital license will be accessible
via a ‘super app’ developed by the DICT. This
app will also supposedly
contain digital versions
of other government IDs,
“among other things.” The
app will also allow users to
carry out transactions like
license registration and
renewal as well as accomplish online payments.
“The advantage
of the digital license is that
motorists can present it to
law enforcement officers
during apprehension,”
said LTO chief Jayart Tugade. “It is equivalent to
presenting the physical
driver’s license.”
The public will
be given the option to use
either the printed official
receipt (OR) or the digital
license for the time being—at least until the LTO
is finally able to distribute proper license cards
again.
