LTO info-tech provider airs concern on growth of emission centers

MANILA, Philippines - The exclusive information technology provider of the Land Transportation Office expressed concern over the reported growing number of private emission testing centers that are either owned or partly-owned and partly-managed by some PETC-IT providers.

In a statement, Stradcom Corp. said that such arrangements among private sector players in the smoke emission testing process is a clear case of conflict of interest and cast a shadow on the integrity of the smoke emission testing of motor vehicles in the country. Stradcom said that there have been persistent reports from the field indicating that PETC IT providers are also operating their own emission testing centers.

In a report submitted to the LTO, Stradcom said that such an arrangement could easily lead to incidence of the persistent “non-appearance” case problem at the LTO. Stradcom also questioned the functional usage of the system of the PETC-IT providers, including their much-ballyhood “eagle-eye” camera system as supposedly installed, to curb the practice of non-appearance.

The non-appearance of vehicles for emission tests has continued because the present system clearly does not have the necessary safeguards to address the problem and because of the conflicts of interest involved in the operations, Stradcom said.

An official of one of the LTO’s accredited PETC-IT providers, lawyer Dan Barrameda, vice president for legal and corporate affairs of RDMS , for his part, said there was nothing wrong with PETC owners also having interest in the IT providers. Admitting that all four PETC-IT providers RDMS, ETC-IT, Cyberlink and Eurolink, also have interests in PETCs Barrameda said that Stradcom must prove that the common interest of PETCs and PETC-IT providers was resulting to irregularities in the smoke emission testing process.

“It’s a question of fact. They have to prove that the conflict can be used for irregularties,” Barrameda told The Star.

Non-appearance cases are cases when motor vehicles that did not undergo mandatory smoke emission testing are issued certificates they undertook the test to get registration with the LTO.

The Stradcom report also indicated that the current PETC system is more prone to abuse and manipulation because there are more opportunities for human intervention.

Based on random checking of some motor vehicles plying the roads of Metro Manila, it has been observed that these smoke-belching vehicles were able to secure legitimate certificate of compliance but they continue to emit hazardous smoke and other harmful materials. Stradcom stressed that this was precisely the reason why the LTO has directed Stradcom to begin conducting tests on a direct connection of the PETC to the LTO-IT system without having to go through the PETC-IT providers.  

For his part, LTO chief Alberto Suansingn said there have been incidents when some vehicles up for renewal of registration were issued certificates by these centers even without the vehicles presented there.

“This represents the honest efforts to push for cleaner air through through the monitoring of emission testing results conducted by testing emission centers,” Suansing told reporters yesterday.  – With Reinir Padua