BAGUIO CITY – The Land Transportation office (LTO) recently opened its driver’s license renewal office inside a mall right in the heart of the city, particularly at the second floor of Porta Vaga mall along Session road, to ease the burden of driver’s in having to fall in long lines to have their licenses renewed.
LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante, Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan and former and incumbent DOTR-CAR officials led the opening of the driver’s license renewal office which is among the more than 30 renewal offices that was established by the transportation office in the different parts of the country since the start of the present administration three years ago.
Galvante said that the services that will be provided by the Baguio driver’s license renewal office is the processing of the renewal of driver’s license and applications for the issuance of student permits and renewal of the same to make the agency’s services available to the public as well as for their convenience.
At present, the LTO Baguio district office is based in barangay Pacdal which is around 3 kilometers away from the central business district area which makes it taxing for individuals renewing their driver’s license to travel to the location of the office and fall in long lines just to have their licenses renewed.
The new LTO Baguio driver’s license renewal office will be open from 9 am to 6 pm Mondays to Saturdays so that it will provide the needed services to individuals who are busy in their offices and businesses.
“We are grateful to the Porta Vaga management for allowing LTO free use of a space in its mall for us to operate our driver’s license renewal office to provide convenience to people wanting to renew their driver’s licenses and apply for the issuance or renew their student permits,” Assistant Secretary Galvante stressed.
He said that the LTO embarked on a program to partner with owners of malls and other private institutions wanting to offer the use of a portion of their establishments for the free use of the agency to establish their satellite offices, particularly the driver’s license renewal office to help in reducing the congestions in their district offices in the different parts of the country.
According to him, there were long lines of people daily in the LTO Pasig City district office which caused inconvenience to the transacting public but when a mall offered the use of a portion of its space for the put up of its driver’s license renewal office, the long lines of people transacting business transferred to the mall extension office.
Assistant Secretary Galvante asserted that LTO continues to look on how to effectively and efficiently deliver its services to its clients with the least convenience that is why it is also interested to partner with owners of big tracks of land where their district offices will be situated so that there will be substantial spaces where motor vehicles will be parked so as not to contribute in congestions along major streets near their offices.
He underscored that LTO district offices should not use roads as parking spaces for motor vehicles that are mandated to register and that management should locate for available spaces that will be used as parking spaces to clear roads from obstructions that impede the smooth flow of traffic in the vicinity of their offices.
By Dexter A. See
