26 minutes to forever

Dave Achondo

I HAVEN’T really thought about a topic for my column today because my week has been pretty much “A-OK” so far to begin with. But as I logged on into my Facebook account, I saw something that ticked me off.

I came across this news from PhilStar that our beloved El Presidente managed to get his license in 26 minutes. Can you believe that? Well, I for one ain’t shocked about that part and you shouldn’t, too, on the account of his being Philippine President and all.

If I was the guy processing his driving papers, I would have given him a professional driver’s license to allow him to drive a 16-wheel truck.

Let me tell you a short story about the Land Transportation Office’s satellite office at Limketkai mall. My father experienced this first-hand when he came back to the Philippines from the United States in 2015. He returned to fix a few things in the house but mainly, he was focused on not missing my niece’s birthday that March. He went to the LTO at Limketkai to renew his license. He filled out all the required forms and paid the right amount. All he had to show for was a piece of paper with an expiration date of one year. He was expecting his plastic license in two months because the guy in charge told him to come back in a month. Sadly, that was the time when he was about to leave the Philippines again, and so he did not get his license.

Fast forward in 2016. My father was confident he would get it but then again, someone from the same office told him “Wala pa, Sir.”

One of the things in his agenda for this year was to retire his temporary license issued by the LTO at Limketkai by getting his proper license–the one made of plastic. To his dismay, he was asked to wait for another three months.

Do you see where I’m getting at? A year after they promised that he would receive his plastic driver’s license, the guy at LTO-Limketkai told my dad to return in a month but couldn’t because he was already bound to return to the US. He waited for another year and he believed that he would receive his license on his return home this year. In 2015, the teller told him to return in a month, and was just given a temporary license. It’s already 2016. No driver’s license yet.

I told my father to forget it because the LTO is simply incompetent. Who could blame him if he’s angry? Even his car plates were paid for when he renewed his registration papers a year ago. A year later, there are no new car plates.

Back to PNoy. According to Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, “As a law-abiding citizen, he personally went to the LTO office, lined up and did not ask for any special treatment. He underwent the whole process and the process was completed.”

Ahem, ahem… my dad went through the same process but where is his license? Oh, wait! He isn’t the President so he could just wait forever. I guess.

Whenever the LTO says there’s no special treatment, I laugh and tell myself, “Are they joking or what?” It looks to me that the LTO is only doing things right when there’s publicity but is the exact opposite most of the time.

Maybe the LTO didn’t have its hands full when PNoy came to renew his license. But then again, so was the LTO-Limketkai at that time when my father went there to renew his.

According to the Routing Slip of the LTO, the total processing time for Aquino’s license was 26 minutes or from 10:32 am to 10:58 am. Wow, that was fast. But then again, my father has been waiting for his license (not the temporary one) since 2016, and he’s about to leave the Philippines again without any.

He said he has already given up on his license and car plates during the remaining days of the Aquino administration. But he is optimistic on getting his license and car plates when Duterte assumes as President. (He is a Duterte fan.)

Next month when Duterte is already President, I will go to the LTO and see it for myself. I will count the minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years until I get my license. I will not seek any special treatment. I will fall in line the same way PNoy supposedly did. But before the process begins, I’ll ask them approximately how long it would take for me to get my license. Would it take 26 minutes? Or forever?