LTO Woes

I went to LTO this morning to have my license renewed. My mom and sisters also had theirs renewed. Since it's open only during weekdays, I had to call in late for work. I don't know which one was the lesser evil , going to work early or going through the long LTO process. After my experience this morning of waiting for more than an hour just to get a new driver's license, I think I wouldn't mind waking up early for work instead. Pa doesn't even let me drive on my own yet...so why waste my time and energy to get a license that I will never get to use?

I think the LTO has a lot of serious fixing to do. The process just takes too long. Although I have to give them props for making the drug test process more convenient. Last time I got my first license, I had to cross the street and take my urine sample at some small dingy store. This time, they had about three drug test centers with clean bathrooms. Both the medical exam and drug test are actually not that all bad. What was bad were the picture taking, paying, and the releasing of licenses. It takes too long...It is already bad enough that you're waiting in a small area with many people, then you see the people behind the counter moving slow as if they have all the time in the world. Who wouldn't get irritated?

I think they should replace the LTO employees with more efficient ones. They move too slow. They dillydally too much. I also don't know if the old ones should handle the tasks that do not require that much efficiency or speed. I saw an LTO employee (old enough to be my grandfather) handling the computer. He was kind of slow. I noticed him stopping every once in awhile, no, make that every five minutes or so...And what's up with the smoking employees? The place stinks, because some of the LTO officials are smoking inside the airconditioned room...while working.

More than the officials, it's the process itself that needs to be improved. They need to add more resources..Not only do they need to have additional workforce, they also have to add and upgrade their equipment. I figured with this huge volume of people daily going to the LTO and paying around 350 pesos, the agency should have enough money to do the things they need to do in order to make the licensing stuff more efficient and effective. I overheard one man awhile ago making sarcastic remarks. He said it's so ironic how you're paying 250 pesos just so you could urinate in a bottle and pay another 50 pesos just so you could read off letters on the wall. It was funny to hear what he had to say. It actually had some truth in it.

I guess with the inefficient LTO process (probably the same thing also happens with the other if not all the government agencies), there is not much we can do about it. With a country like ours, where corruption exists from the top down to the very bottom, it is just not feasible to move forward and make the whole system as progressive as some of the more successful countries. The budget that is supposed to be for the improvement of the agency goes to the pockets of dirty officials instead. It's really a shame.

I could hypothesize and justify why this is happening to our country. But if I do, this is going to be a one long blog. So I would rather not do so.