LTO chief faces Stradcom damage suit

MANILA, Philippines - Embattled Land Transportation Office chief Virginia Torres is facing yet another challenge – this time in a pending court case involving a corporate dispute in LTO’s information technology (IT) provider, Stradcom Corp.

After being caught playing in a casino, which is off-limits to government officials and employees, Torres now has to answer a complaint before a Quezon City regional trial court (RTC) seeking to make her liable for her earlier refusal to release payments due to Stradcom.

The RTC Branch 90, which is handling the interpleader case on the Stradcom dispute, agreed to hear a motion of the group of Cezar Quiambao seeking damages from the LTO chief.

“Let summon/s be issued forthwith to the defendants-on-counterclaims (Torres, Sumbilla, etc)... pursuant to Section 12 of Rule 6, 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended,” read the omnibus order promulgated last Aug. 5.

Torres had refused to pay the IT firm P4 billion in services rendered since 2010 due to an intracorporate dispute between Quiambao and the group led by Bonifacio Sumbilla.

The Supreme Court, in a resolution issued by the Second Division last March 18, affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals that favored Quiambao’s group in the dispute.

The high court held that Sumbilla’s group is a nuisance group and that their ownership claim over Stradcom was nothing but a nuisance and harassment suit.

Stradcom under Quiambao wants Torres held personally accountable for the actual and estimated damages caused by the withholding of payments to the corporation.

Torres was accused of conniving with Sumbilla’s group during the forcible takeover of the Stradcom IT system in December 2010. 

The Department of Justice, after an investigation, had ruled that there was clearly an attempt at a forcible takeover by the Sumbilla group and recommended the administrative or disciplinary actions against certain LTO officials who were found in connivance with them. 

In 2011, the LTO filed an interpleader case with another Quezon City court to withhold payment to the contractor until the dispute is resolved.