I think you are right, most if not all the new cars I see are still saying region 7 on those that have Plates, mind they may be just running the Plates until No Stock come about.
I received my first Philippine Driver's License today (Foreign Conversion). Went to take a Medical test, and then a drug test. The Dumaguete LTO just asked to see my Balikbayan stamp in my passport. Went to take a Medical test, and then a drug test. License good for 5 years.
Did you actually get the new license in hand?? I renewed my one in Aug but up to now I did not bother to check or they have (the plastic for) the new ones.
The guy in the video had a lot of facts screwed up. like the American owned his own house but couldn't get a drivers licence, he couldn't sell a car as a foreigner and so on. I wouldn't take one word he said as fact...
I received a paper saying "valid as temporary driver's license until dl card is released". The other side says Official Receipt. They said that it would be April or May to receive permanent hard copy.
They are just giving an answer a few months down the road. They really don't know. I got my Philippine license (Foreign Conversion) in early October and the man who handed me the receipt kind of grinned and said the permanent one would come in December. I asked my Filipino friend, who is highly-placed politically, about it and he said no one knows how long it will take. As best I recall the details he told me: The plastic blanks are manufactured under an exclusive contract with the government. That contract was challenged by other companies and politicians because it was awarded as a no-bid sweetheart deal. The whole mess is now tied up in court with the actual manufacture of the blanks halted under court order. The legal process is arcane and slow in so many countries, the Philippines being one of them. I bet even the judge could not give a definitive answer as to when the LTO will have blanks again.
Just renewed my Drivers license cost me 1,060 Php and the LTO office told me to come back next year for my actual license. The cost has gone way up and the service has gone way down. When I first applied in 2011 I got my license card the same day and it was 400 Php
I am not a lawyer but this legal proceeding should not be this complicated. Cancel the existing non-bid (illegal) contact. Go thru the bid process and get a supplier. Let the aggrieved party file a case for damages.
The New Tourism Ad for the Philippines should read, " everything is harder in the Philippines, Come join us in bashing our heads against the wall "
