Monopoly of PETCs, IT providers ordered stopped

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications has ordered the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to put an end to the conflict of interest caused by the cross-ownership of private emission testing centers and the four accredited PETC-IT providers operating at LTO.

In an order issued by DOTC Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus to the LTO in August where he had upheld the LTO’s Direct Connect Facility, the DOTC chief had also instructed the LTO to end the “conflict of interest” that results from the ownership of PETCs either by three of the four PETC-IT providers – Eurolink, Cyberlink, ETC-IT.

De Jesus said that even the LTO’s exclusive IT provider, Stradcom Corp., should not own any PETCs. “To level the playing field for PETCs, LTO must ensure that there is no conflict of interest as to IT provider and/or Stradcom’s ownership of PETCs,” De Jesus said in the order.

“Department of Trade and Industry and LTO must be strict in its accreditation and authorization process of PETCs,” De Jesus said.

A group of PETCs had raised the conflict of interest issue among the four IT providers also owning PETCs since they allegedly get favorable treatment and provide an opportunity for the occurrence of the LTO’s persistent problem of so-called “non-appearance” cases.

The Association of PETC Owners for Environmental Protection alleged that the conflict of interest was resulting to the unfair treatment suffered by other PETCs from PETC-IT providers with certain PETCs getting favorable upload and turnaround time from the IT providers, thus making it grossly unfair for other PETCs to conduct their operations.