Transport group says expired SEC papers won't affect case vs RFID project

MANILA, Philippines - Militant transport group Pagkakaisa ng Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) said yesterday its expired registration papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has nothing to do with its petition to the Supreme Court to scrap the controversial radio frequency identification (RFID) project of the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

George San Mateo, Piston secretary general, said the legitimacy of their group could not be questioned, as this has existed for 29 years with thousands of public transport operators and drivers as members.

The LTO had earlier claimed that Piston could not be a legitimate organization since its registration paper with the SEC has expired.

San Mateo explained that their SEC registration could easily be renewed and their members are already completing this.

He stressed, however, that the expiry of the SEC would have no legal implication on the petition they filed with other party-list groups last December for the SC to issue a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction against the LTO’s RFID.

The SC had granted the TRO sought by Piston and its allied party-list groups, led by Reps. Satur Ocampo, Teddy Casiño, Liza Maza and Joel Maglunsod.

San Mateo said the issue of their SEC registration being raised by the LTO and its contractor Stradcom Corp. is “a desperate effort to cast doubt on the validity of their petition.”

San Mateo was also reacting to a media statement of Efren de Luna, president of the Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations (ACTO), questioning the legitimacy of Piston.

San Mateo said “De Luna is obviously being used by the LTO and Stradcom,” which are not giving up on the RFID project.

Piston and party-list groups Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela filed a petition with the High Court last Dec. 19 and asked for the scrapping of the project due to numerous irregularities, including the failure of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the LTO to hold a public bidding for the RFID tags.          – Rainier Allan Ronda