Court issues solution to LTO, IT provider row

MANILA, Philippines - A court has issued a temporary solution to the legal row between Land Transportation Office’s IT provider Stradcom Corp. and private IT provider firm ETC-IT.

Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 95 Judge Henri Jean Paul Inting stopped Stradcom from imposing an increase in the interconnectivity fee that it charges to ETC-IT.

But Inting also directed ETC-IT to maintain its payment of four months deposit estimated at P21 million, and post a bond of more than P5 million to protect Stradcom’s rights pending final judicial ruling on their dispute.

ETC-IT had questioned the legality of Stradcom’s move to increase its fee by P5. ETC-IT claimed this was against the agreement between the two firms.

ETC-IT, Inc., one of the four PETC-IT firms accredited by the LTO and the Department of Transportation and Communications, was ordered by the QCRTC to pay Stradcom Corp., the LTO’s database provider, a four month minimum deposit of their transaction fees, estimated at P21 million.

While it ordered ETC-IT to maintain the minimum deposit with Stradcom, it also issued an injunction against a move by Stradcom to disconnect the PETC-IT firm from the LTO database.

Earlier, ETC-IT, filed a petition for a temporary restraining order or Preliminary Injunction on Stradcom’s cutting off ETC-IT from the LTO-IT system because of alleged breach of contract.

The RTC ordered that before an injunction can be granted, ETC-IT must first comply with its contractual obligations to Stradcom by depositing the four months deposit, among other conditions.

Stradcom Corp., welcomed the ruling, saying it upheld its position that ETC-IT must comply with its contractual obligations to them and maintain the required deposits that it agreed to when it signed a interconnection contract with Stradcom.

Inting cited that the last uncontested status between the two parties was that ETC-IT had put up a deposit for four months and maintain the minimum deposit for the past four years until Stradcom questioned it on Sept. 23, 2010.  – Rainier Allan Ronda, Reinir Padua