Shots fired. The Department of Transportation (DOTr) wasted no time in letting the Land Transportation Office (LTO) know of its thoughts regarding the recent issues regarding shortages of plates and driver’s license cards. Here’s the scoop.

It’s no surprise to anyone at this point that the LTO is facing a shortage of materials for license cards and plates. That’s why these are taking forever to arrive, even for applicants who’ve been waiting for months to get their copies. The situation has gotten so out of hand, in fact, that the agency has resorted to printing licenses on paper to get by. Understandably, these attempts have been well-documented by the people who have received them and also have gone viral on social media.

Another interesting alternative proposed by the LTO was for road users to create “Do It Yourself” (DIY plates). What’s even more bizarre is the fact that these must first be authorized by the agency before use, and the rules regarding these plates seem to change as more time passes by.

Now it seems that the DOTr has had enough with the LTO agency’s antics. CNN Philippines quoted DOTr Sec. Jaime Bautista to have said the following, “The procurement only started officially last March but LTO (Land Transportation Office) should have started the procurement as early as August.”

In response, the LTO stated that the DOTr issued a special order at the start of this year stating that “all procurement activities over PHP 50M must pass through the central office” and this hindered their operations. By manner of deduction, the LTO claims that the DOTr also (whether indirectly) caused this fiasco.

Once again, the DOTr clapped back that this could have been performed as early as August of last year. Why it wasn’t done earlier remains to be a mystery.

As end users and taxpaying citizens, we just want to get quality services from our politicians. But it can sometimes be useful to know what’s going on behind the scenes. What’s your take?