MINERVA BC NEWMAN
CEBU CITY— The Land Transportation Office (LTO-7) in Central Visayas has established 11 more LTO-offices since January 2018 in addition to the existing 12 offices in the region to serve the public efficiently and better.
According to LTO-7 regional director Victor Emmanuel Caindec that when he assumed as LTO-7 regional director in January 2018 there were only 12 LTO offices in Central Visayas that included district and extension offices. Today he has established additional 11 offices, licensing centers and offsite printing offices.
Bohol Province has now four LTO offices– Tagbilaran District Office, Alturas Mall Licensing Center, Talibon Extension Office and now Jagna-Garcia Hernandez, Caindec said.
Caindec shared with the media the additional offices that were established in Central Visayas: Temporary Offsite Printing Office (TOPO) in SM Seaside; TOPO in ICM, Lapu-Lapu City; TOPO in Robinson’s Galleria; Talisay City Extension Office in Talisay City; Mega Licensing Center in SM Seaside; Bantayan Licensing Extension Office in Bantayan Island; Balamban Licensing Extension Office in Balamban and Camotes Island Extension Office in Camotes for Cebu.
There are also TOPO in Alturas Mall in Tagbilaran City; LTO Garcia-Hernandez in Jagna; and Tagbilaran City District Office Licensing Extension Office all in Bohol.
Meanwhile, Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief assistant secretary Edgar Galvante approved the operations of the Central Visayas LTO- Malasakit Lounge located at Natalio Bacalso Avenue, Cebu City and its additional function for new licensing in a letter received by LTO-7 on August 17.
“Malasakit Lounge will turn one year in October this year and we are glad that Asec. Galvante approved this initiative as our way of giving back to the public for the convenience of everybody,” Caindec said.
He added that the Malasakit Lounge aims to provide convenience to all senior citizens, persons with disabilities, pregnant, lactating women, and diplomatic officials in getting new driver’s license while enjoying the amenities at the lounge.
According to him this is the only Malasakit Lounge in the whole of LTO offices in the country and we hope to establish more in other islands in the region.
In April the LTO-7 turned over its Malasakit Lounge to Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) which served as temporary quarters of the hospital’s front liners which serves about 80 health care workers. The lounge is now under the LTO-7 after Cebu City was placed under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) where public transport is no longer a challenge, Caindec said.
He added that now a portion of the Malasakit Lounge is utilized as LTO 7’s Driver’s Education Center (DEC). “We already have the go signal from Asec. Galvante and we are just finalizing everything before we can start offering our DEC to the public.”
LTO Chief Galvante also approved adding more functions to two existing offices in the region, the Jagna District Office-Garcia Hernandez in Jagna, Bohol and Toledo District Office in Toledo City, Cebu.
Caindec went on that those LTO Offices are now authorized to accept and process applications for new driver’s license and utilize the Automated Driver’s License Examination System (ADELES) facility. He added that before, only renewals were allowed in the said offices, they can already process new licenses as well.
