Can Bacoor traffic enforcers confiscate your driver’s license? LTO and DILG say NO
Can Bacoor (or other cities and municipalities’) traffic enforcers legally confiscate your driver’s license? The question has resurfaced online after the city maintained that its enforcers are authorized to confiscate the licenses of motorists who violate local traffic ordinances.
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), however, have been saying otherwise for years.
So, who should motorists believe?
Bacoor says it has the authority
In a recent statement, the City Government of Bacoor said its traffic enforcers are authorized to confiscate driver’s licenses of erring motorists under Section 23 of City Ordinance No. 11-2019, also known as the Revised Traffic Code of Bacoor.
The city also argued that the recent Supreme Court ruling applies only to local government units (LGUs) within Metro Manila under the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). Since Bacoor is outside Metro Manila, it believes it may continue enforcing its own ordinance under the Local Government Code.
Photo courtesy of City of Bacoor
DILG says no
Back in 2008, the DILG and the Department of Transportation (DOTr, then DOTC) issued Joint Memorandum Circular No. 01, directing LGUs to align their traffic ordinances with national laws. One provision is particularly clear, Section 3.4, and it says “The LGUs can issue traffic citation tickets but only the LTO and their deputized agents can confiscate driver's licenses.”
In other words, cities and municipalities may apprehend motorists and issue citation tickets, but confiscating a driver’s license is reserved for the LTO and its deputized law enforcers.
The DILG repeated that position in 2022 through a memorandum titled “Reiteration of Pertinent Provisions on Road Safety and Transportation,” reminding LGUs to comply with the 2008 circular.
LTO says no
The LTO has consistently maintained that only the agency and its deputized enforcers have the authority to confiscate driver’s licenses under existing laws. In 2022, the agency welcomed the DILG’s clarification, saying it solidified LTO’s long-standing position on the matter.
LTO Chief, Assistant Secretary Markus Lacanilao, said that only the LTO is authorized to confiscate, suspend, or revoke driver’s licenses, adding that LGUs doing otherwise are acting outside the rules.
Motorists caught in the middle
For riders and other motorists, the conflicting positions create a real problem. If your driver’s license is confiscated in Bacoor, you’ll receive a city-issued traffic citation ticket in its place. The catch is that the ticket is recognized only within the city. Once you leave Bacoor and there’s a checkpoint or another traffic enforcer asks for your driver’s license, you could find yourself facing more violations simply because you no longer have the actual license to present. That could mean more fines, more delays, and a bigger headache than the original offense.
Until the issue is settled once and for all, motorists passing through Bacoor remain caught between the city’s interpretation of its ordinance and the long-standing position of the DILG and the LTO.
