Driver’s licenses fading, peeling off

Check your driver’s license. Is the plastic laminate peeling off or is your picture fading?

For the Land Transportation Office, it will be no surprise if you answer yes.

LTO chief Alberto Suansing said the office is reviewing its contract with AMPI Mega Data, manufacturer of the current edition of driver’s license, due to mounting complaints regarding its substandard quality.

“We will rebid the project to insure quality products”, Suansing said. Reports said the prints and the computer-generated photos on the driver’s license produced by AMPI get wiped out after a few months of use and that its lamination wears off easily.

Top government officials were reportedly among those issued defective drivers licenses. Several drivers interviewed by The STAR aired the same complaint.

AMPI is one of the two major contractors of the LTO. It has been doing business with the transport agency for more than a decade now. It’s not clear whether the LTO intends to take the matter to the courts,

Suansing said LTO has issued a recall of all worn-out drivers licenses and to have them replaced with new ones for free.

“We are calling on drivers to return their defective drivers license to nearest LTO office where they can be issued new ones for free,” Suansing, said. But of course it’s the taxpayers who will shoulder the cost of the “free” license.