The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) have revealed that they are now clear with the millions of license backlogs that have piled up since 2016. This means that Filipinos can finally get a driver’s license that has a 10-year validity as soon as October of 2021.

That’s right – with just a few months left in the current administration’s term, and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) will finally release driver’s licenses with 10-year validity. As the LTO has promised, drivers with clean records can qualify for a license with a doubled validity period starting this coming October.

It was around August last year when Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Edgar Galvante announced that driver’s licenses will soon have a 10-year validity in line with the implementation of Republic Act No. 10930, which also extended the validity of current licenses from the previous three years to five.

However, only motorists with good backgrounds will be eligible to have their licenses renewed with 10-year validity.

LTO chief Edgar Galvante said, “Not all possessors of drivers’ licenses will be able to enjoy this 10-year validity. This is an incentive for drivers who obey traffic rules. Even just one demerit point can disqualify you. So to avail of this premium, your record must be clean.”

The demerit system classifies into three categories: light, less grave, and grave. Light includes first-time offenses of driving rules and minor traffic violations and would give you a demerit of 1 point; less grave includes second-time offenses of driving rules and would give you a demerit if 3 points; and grave includes third-time offenses of driving rules, committing crimes while driving, driving under the influence, and would give you a demerit of 5 points.

If you do not have any problems with your previous records, you’ll be eligible to get a driver’s license with a 10-year validity upon renewal as soon as the LTO starts rolling them out.