Senate agrees to establishment, conversion of LTO extension offices into district offices

The Senate today approved on third and final reading 18 bills seeking to establish and convert the extension offices of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) into regular district offices in several town and cities nationwide.

Sen. Serge Osmeña, acting chairman of the Committee on Public Services and sponsor of the proposed bills, said the addition of LTO district offices would make it less burdensome for the people to apply for their driver's licenses and register of their motor vehicles.

"It would declog the workload of existing LTO district offices that have previously served the residents as they would now be handled by the extension offices," Osmeña said.

Even though the processing for LTO vehicle registration should last less than a week, Osmeña said, the reality was that applicants had to wait long hours and endure long queues before their vehicles were registered and their applications and renewal for licenses were approved.

He said others had to travel from distant places to get to the nearest regular LTO district office.

"Creating regular LTO district offices would ease the difficulties being encountered by people in the areas where there have been reported congestion of transactions or where it is quite inaccessible to people from nearby towns," he said.

During the committee hearing, he said, LTO representatives did not object to the setting up of regular LTO district offices. He said the funding for the additional manpower and operational requirements would be included in the General Appropriations Act.

Osmeña stressed the urgency of the measures in the light of reports of increasing car sales over the years.

Approved were House Bill 216, converting the LTO extension office in Agoo, La Union, into a regular LTO district office; HB 273, converting the Bayawan City Land Transportation Office into a regular LTO district office; HB 540, establishing a district office of the LTO in Bacoor, Cavite; HB 557, establishing the LTO in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley; HB 696, establishing the Orani Land Transportation Extension Office in Orani, Bataan; HB 1246, establishing a satellite office of the LTO in Irosin, Sorsogon; HB 2028, establishing the LTO district office in Antipolo, Rizal; HB 2095, converting the LTO extension office in Sta.Maria, Bulacan into a regular LTO district office; HB 2188, establishing the LTO district office in Baybay, Leyte; HB 2592, converting the LTO satellite Office as district office in District 2, Paranaque City; HB 2606, establishing a district office of the LTO in La Libertad, Negros Oriental; HB 2716, converting the LTO extension office in Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte into a regular district office; HB 3217, converting the Kabacan LTO extension office in Kabacan, Cotabato into a regular LTO district office; HB 4404, establishing the district office of the LTO in Carmona, Cavite; HB 4421, establishing the LTO in Malita, Davao Oriental; HB 4784, converting the LTO extension office in Tagaytay, Cavite into a regular district office; HB 5085, converting the LTO Goa, Camarines Sur extension office into a regular LTO class "D" district office to be located in Tigaon, Camarines Sur and HB 5825, establishing a district office of the LTO in Sarangani. (Pilar S. Macrohon)