Riders don't need to surrender license to village guards – PNP

New PNP memo prohibits surrendering of driver’s license to village guards, HOA

Motorcycle riders who deliver for Lalamove, GrabFood, or FoodPanda for a living may have already been hassled countless times by village or condominium guards. For the longest time, the standard operating procedure (SOP) has been to surrender your driver’s license to them. Thankfully, that is all over.

The Philippine National Police (PNP), through its unit that is tasked with the management of security agencies, Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies (SOSIA), has ordered all private security personnel and their respective agencies to immediately stop requiring non-resident drivers and motorcycle riders to surrender their driver’s licenses upon entry into a private subdivision, village, or condominium complex.

According to the memo dated June 15, 2020, under Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) Administrative Order No. 03, series of 2017, and the Republic Act 5487 or the Private Security Agency Law, security guards, as well as the Home Owner’s Associations (HOA) cannot force outsiders who enter to surrender their driver’s license, not even temporarily.

“Pursuant to reference 1b., the HOAs and the security guards of subdivisions, villages, and condominiums are NOT authorized under traffic laws to take custody, even on a temporary basis, the license issued by the LTO,” the memo reads.

Instead of requiring the driver to surrender his LTO-issued license, the private security guards may just ask for any government-issued ID, presumably, TIN ID, SSS/ GSIS, PRC, COMELEC ID, and the like.

For now, allow a few more days for this memo to be disseminated to the different security agencies and their associations. In a few weeks, you might be relieved to finally drive inside subdivisions knowing that your driver’s license is still in your possession.