Fading Driver's License

[baludoy]

i thought mine was an isolated case, apparently it's not

EDITORIAL – Substandard

Monday, September 8, 2008

People started noticing a few months ago that their photos and the fine print on their driver’s licenses were fading. Some licenses were newly issued; others were set to expire, which indicated that production of the substandard cards must have started as far back as three years ago. Who is responsible for compromising the integrity of those cards?

Like the passport, a driver’s license is one of the basic identification cards whose integrity must be guaranteed by the state. The driver’s license must be as tamper-proof as the latest technology will allow, which is what the current batch of cards is supposed to be. Instead more and more motorists are reporting that their licenses are fading. Owners of the cards can find themselves in trouble if they are suspected of holding fake or tampered licenses.

Worried about the consequences, transport groups are urging the government to do something about the problem. What, exactly? The best that transport groups can expect is a recall and replacement of fading driver’s licenses, free of charge.

Will anyone be called to account for the substandard cards? The contractor may not even be identified, although there might be an announcement that its services will no longer be needed in the future. Will any transportation official get even a slap on the wrist? If the head of the Department of Transportation and Communications, one of the most durable officials in this administration, was not replaced over the anomalous national broadband network deal with ZTE Corp., he will not get even a minor scolding for the issuance of substandard driver’s licenses.

At worst, there won’t even be a recall of fading licenses, and the contractor of the cards will not lose its deal with the government. This story was reported several weeks ago but so far no action has been taken. The government will likely just wait for the story to die down and fade away, as quickly as the images and fine print on the cards are fading. - Philstar

[alwayz_yummy]

matinan nga yung akin... hehehe... pero sure ako yung OR ko ang malbo na..

[fast lane]

sakin din nag fade agad even before ako mag renew,if not for the OR di na makita yung license number ko dun sa faded card.
eto kaka renew ko lang last month, sana di agad mag fade

i think its because, as of now sa mga express renewal center eh makukuha mo na yung plastic license card mo on the same day, pwede nga almost 1 hour renewal sa lugar na konti tao.

anyways siguro nga dun sa machine nila ang ang sub-standard

[1D4LV]

super faded na rin yung sa akin. yun nga lang, renewal na ako march next year kaya hayaan ko na lang.

[glenn_sp]

sa akin din faded na, parang naagnas na mukha ko, sabi naman ng friend ko na taga LTO, ok lang daw yun, kapalpakan nman daw ng supplier nila ng materials yun eh.. pero yung ngayon daw hindi na.. ok na daw ang gawa.

[zero]

magfile daw ng reklamo ang grupong piston at 1-utak re. fading/substandard na driver's licenses issued by the LTO. sana may mangyari sa reklamo nila. another scam na naman ito malamang.

[niky]

It's computerizer printing kasi. This happened to us, too.

Some suppliers' ink strips are really photosensitive, and will fade if exposed to bright sunlight for too long. You really won't know that this will happen until a few months after you start printing, when constant exposure to sunlight breaks down the chemical inks on the ID.

You can't really blame the LTO for this... but the supplier, and if they changed the supplier, no further problem... just provide renewal for free for those who are still two years away from their renewal date.

The solution to this is to always keep your license in a license jacket and only bring it out when you really need it. This will slow down the fading.

[CVT]

Face in the driver's license is not recognizable and the license number is totally erased... We can renew a month before the expiry date, right? TIA.

6707:choir:

[Galactus]

I don't think it has anything to do with light-sensitive inks. I rarely bring out my license, and it has been in my wallet, covered by my other ID's, 99.99% of the time. Yet, the colors have degraded. The inks are simply substandard and non-colorfast.

Yung mga licenses din ng ibang officemates ganun din, kasi nagka-kwentuhan kami when I brought up this issue. I think batch 2006 ang tinamaan.

[Galactus]

Grrr....Double post.