Stradcom contract still under review - Noy

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino said yesterday the government’s contract with Stradcom Corp. remained under review for apparent lack of benefits to the public.

He also defended the return of Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Virginia Torres to her position after a two-month forced leave.

Stradcom is the sole information technology provider that handles LTO’s database of registered vehicles and license holders, and the interconnectivity between the LTO, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

Torres has been under fire for allegedly mishandling the Stradcom’s intra-corporate dispute, for refusal to pay its services due to ownership, and for allegedly favoring a faction over another. The issue had caused paralysis in LTO operations.

Speaking to reporters after visiting flood victims in Cotabato City, the President said Torres was actually responsible for bringing the Stradcom case to his attention.

He said the people were paying Stradcom P1.3 billion every year for 10 years without clear benefits from its services.

The President said he was personally dissatisfied with Stradcom after asking for some data when the hostage crisis in Manila occurred on Aug. 23 last year.

“Among the data given to me was the certificate of registration by the bus and I have copies in my office that I kept just to remind me – that’s when Stradcom first got my attention. The data they sent contained (information) that were somewhat captured from the screen - engine displacement: 0; size of tires (front): 0; size of tires (rear): 0. So I returned it to them and asked the encoder, the reader and all those involved in the process, what kind of data are these?” Aquino said.

He said he could not accept that everything on the certificate of registration was “zero” and when he complained, some details were apparently incorrect but were just encoded to show that something was sent back to him.

The President said when the third letter was brought to him, he could no longer help but ask what mischief was being done.

“They’ve had that contract for, I think, 10 years. Imagine collecting P1.3 billion… and this is the service that people get, is that right?” Aquino said. “And I have to credit (Assistant Secretary) Torres for showing that to me personally.”  

Aquino said Torres also conducted time and motion analysis of the smoke emission testing centers on her own initiative and “they closed down so many.”

Torres still enjoys P-Noy’s confidence

The President did not rule out the possibility that those being affected by the efforts to clean up LTO and other agencies were the ones complaining and creating the issues against Torres.

He said all he wanted now would be to find out whether Stradcom’s services should be continued or not.

“Stradcom is not just LTO. There are several other agencies that are digitizing. So what are we looking for?” he asked.

Aquino said the government would need high technology at this time especially in going after carjackers and stolen vehicles.

“At this point in time, as we go to the airport, when you pass through the scanner, how high-tech is high-tech? The scanner would pinpoint suspicious items,” he said.

The President said in the case of the current system at LTO, reuse of the parts and license plates of totally wrecked vehicles by carjackers could not even be traced while previously owned cars, when registered anew, could not be identified as already listed.

He said it was unfortunate that LTO members had been accused of being in cahoots with syndicates.

Aquino said Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo told him that they were able to register a fictitious vehicle and just thought of the numbers they liked to be registered and were accommodated without much question or inspection.

“Nobody inspected the engine, no one checked the car,” Aquino said, even insurance companies would just cover the vehicle without even looking at it.

He said nobody was espousing the return to manual registration of vehicles but that the recommendations of outgoing Transportation Secretary Jose de Jesus were being studied.

“And I understand they’re coming up with terms of preference… in the expiration of contract by the Stradcom or pre-termination of their contract,” Aquino said.

On March 4, the DOJ recommended Torres’ dismissal from service for her alleged complicity in the takeover, which led to an almost six-hour disruption of LTO operations.

The DOJ fact-finding committee recommended to the Department of Transportation and Communications the filing of gross negligence or gross incompetence charges against Torres for having “favored” businessmen Bonifacio Sumbilla and Aderito Yujuico because she did not prevent the takeover even when she had prior knowledge of it.

The LTO chief and her aide, Menelia Mortel, were caught by a closed-circuit television camera entering the Stradcom building with Sumbilla and Yujuico.

Apart from the takeover, Torres had allegedly been withholding six months’ worth of payment to Stradcom amounting to P1 billion.

Malacañang officials said the case was under review and legal issues would have to be threshed out. They said Torres was not yet completely off the hook and that Stradcom’s contract was being evaluated.