If there is one government agency where I have felt that we are all more or less the same, regardless of social standing, breeding, or cellphone model, then it is the Land Transportation Office.

I got this insight while I was renewing my driver’s license the other day because aside from the rare few that have inside connections, everybody had to line up and wait.  There were no proxies or bullyboys because whoever was renewing his or her license had to be physically present for the numerous photo ops that were required in the process.  In my case, where I was unlucky enough to renew my license on the day that the LTO system was intermittently going on and offline, that wait meant hours. 

I spent those hours observing the people who were waiting with me, amused to see drivers: jeepney drivers, truck drivers, family drivers, student drivers, pretty drivers, well-dressed drivers, drivers in shorts, old grizzled drivers, young and probably reckless drivers, drivers basically from all walks of life sitting elbow to elbow under a couple of tents, waiting for their name to be called so that they can have their pictures taken and electronically record their signatures. 

It made me wonder about my Titas who live comfy lives but either still insist on driving themselves or simply feel that a driver’s license will still come in handy on those days when the driver decides to elope with the yaya.  I cannot imagine them spending the whole morning in that non-airconditioned waiting area that constantly smelled of cigarette smoke.  Is there a secret, hassle free way of renewing our driver’s license that they know of or do they also endure this once-in-every-three-year ritual like the rest of us do?  If that secret way exists, I hope that those who know of it will be kind enough to tell me about it so I can try it out three years from now.  I hear that in Manila, there are LTO kiosks in malls and even MRT stations where what usually takes us at least three hours can be finished in 15 minutes.  Maybe in three years that kind of service will be here by then.

If the system hadn’t been going bonkers that day, I reckon that I could have been done my business at the LTO before lunch break, which is a marked improvement from the days of yore.  But, since I have always been one who has been better at finding flaws than successes when it comes to government stuff, I might as well point out some areas where the service can be improved.

One of the many rackets that we continue to tolerate, maybe because we do this ritual only every three years, is their silly obsession for ID pictures.  They require ID pictures for the drug test and the so-called medical exam.  Since most of us show up with no ID pictures, there is a convenient little shack that can give us three-minute ID photos, at a reasonable price of P60.  My complaint is I don’t really think those ID photos are that necessary.  Our old drivers licenses has our names and photos, and we go there personally to renew our license.  I bet that if someone weren’t making a killing from that literal photo shack, we can all live without it.

There is also the notorious medical exam that costs us P100  for someone who is not even a doctor to get our BP, ask if we use eyeglasses, and ask (not actually measure) our height and weight.  The newest innovation, if you may call it that, is a test to weed out the color blind, which are not supposed to be able to get professional drivers licenses, but still I can’t help but call it a racket. 

The P250 drug test is also one of those borderline rackets, simply because I believe that given the number of people who take (and retake) this test, costs should be lower.

In the end, despite all the rackets and the waiting, I was able to get my plastic driver’s license before 3 p.m.  Not bad considering I went out for a lunch meeting at 11:30 and came back around 2 p.m. already.  But if in other parts of the country it can be done in 15 minutes, I hope the same can be possible here, too — hopefully within the next three years.  If not, well at least we have to go through this only on a tri-annual basis.