MANILA—For days, crowds of frustrated vehicle owners filled the Land Transportation Office's main office registration site in Quezon City.

On Thursday, a sign on the LTO site cashier's window read "OFFLINE." but some chose to stay and wait because they had already taken a leave from their jobs, while others left to try another day.

‘Offline’

Long lines and waiting hours at LTO main office for vehicle registration. pic.twitter.com/g8UM2xDPTS

— Jacque Manabat (@jacquemanabat) September 1, 2022

The Land Transportation Office, however, only issued a public statement past 5 p.m. or after office hours, apologizing for delays in transactions with the agency.

“Humihingi po ng paunawa at paumanhin ang inyong Land Transportation Office (LTO) sa nararanasan ngayong pagbabagal sa sistema at mga transaksyon sa ilan sa mga tanggapan ng ahensya. Makakaasa po ang publiko sa pagsisikap ng LTO na mapabuti ang serbisyo at nang maiwasan ang katulad na sitwasyon sa hinaharap,” the statement read.

The agency said it was not yet able to determine the cause of the problem.

“Kasalukuyan na ring inaalam ng aming mga eksperto sa teknolohiya ang pinagmulan ng problemang teknikal at makatitiyak ang publiko na ginagawan na ito ng solusyon upang sa lalong madaling panahon ay maibalik ang normal na operasyon,” it said.

In another statement, LTO clarified that the issue is only a slowdown of services and not because there is no network connection.

“Wala pa pong listahan ng mga apektadong district offices bagamat halos lahat naman ay may nararanasang slowdown, pero hindi po offline," the agency said.

LTO chief Teofilo Guadiz III has said his office is in a series of meetings with the agency's IT service provider, Dermalog, to thresh out concerns. He added they are still looking for the root cause of the problematic slow transactions.

• LTO, IT systems provider meet to iron out issues

"Possible ganito. Possible ganyan. We even considered possibly si PLDT ang cause. We ruled out everything, and it points out now dun sa IT provider namin mam," Guadiz said.

Dermalog, a Germany-based technology provider, bagged the Land Transportation Management Systems (LTMS) project in 2018 as the Duterte administration promised to turn most of LTO's transactions online to avoid "fixers."

• LTO says driver's license renewal to go online soon

However, the IT service provider explained that their service is limited to the software, not the internet connection, and that resolving the issue is on the side of the LTO.

“Nagrereklamo sila na mabagal daw 'yung ibang LTO offline. Again, hawak po namin software. The software is working. Ang problema ng mga LTO offices, wala silang internet. Kung may internet ay mabagal. 'Yung ibang LTO ay sinasadya pong hindi i-on ang LTMS at puno rin ang internet. That is an internet problem. Network problem. Hindi po 'yan sa Dermalog, sa LTO po 'yan. Yung ganung pagku-kulang, yung ganung offline ay 'yun po ay sa LTO,” Dermalog’s spokesperson Nikki De Vega said.

"Dapat ay imo-modernize ang internet system, but the software is working. Halimbawa, Gmail (app) gumagana, pero kung wala kang internet, mahihirapan kang gamitin 'yun. We clarified that issue with them (LTO), the internet ay sa inyo," she said.

For now, those who will register their vehicles were advised by the LTO to complete their requirements first. The agency also asked for the public's understanding as the long lines may persist.

“Kung maaari ay unahin na lang po muna ng mga magpapa-rehistro na matapos ang ibang requirements tulad ng inspeksyon, insurance at iba pa para isang pila na lang. Talagang kakailanganin po muna na tiyagain ang pila ngayon dahil sa slowdown. Pero ongoing na ang checking ng IT experts ng LTO,” it said.

The agency has extended the registration of vehicles with plate numbers ending in 7 until the end of September. These vehicles' original registration month was supposed to be in July.

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