Senators cannot help but suspect anomalies in the transportation department's implementation of its motor vehicle inspection system (MVIS), particularly, in allowing private inspectors to do the job.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said no law permitted the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to delegate to private entities its mandate of assuring the roadworthiness of motor vehicles.
"Unang-una, wala kaming nakikitang batas na nagpapahintulot sa LTO na isapribado ang serbisyong ito. Ngayon, kung gusto nila isapribado 'yan, pwede silang pumunta ng Kongreso para humingi ng batas tungkol dito, hindi pwedeng sila-sila lang ang gagawa niyan (First of all, we do not see any law that authorized the LTO to privatize this service. Now, if they wanted to privatize it, they could asked Congress for a law, and not do things on their own)," Recto said in an interview over DZMM Teleradyo.
Even in the Clean Air Act, which was cited by the LTO and its mother agency, the Department of Transportation (DOTr), did not say explicitly that the vehicle inspection system could be privatized, he said.
Recto also questioned the executive department's supposed "monopoly" in deciding to accredit 138 private motor vehicle inspection centers (PMVICs), and setting specific inspection fees.
Of the 138 LTO-accredited PMVICs, 23 are currently operating.
"Sino sa kanila ang nag-isip ng 138 lang? Ibig sabihin, walang kompetisyon tapos mandato po ang presyo. Kung nasa pribado 'yan, dapat marami at merong kompetisyon para bumaba ang presyo (Who among them thought of having only 138 PMVICs? Meaning there was no competition and they even mandated the price. If they are privatizing it, there should be more and there should be competition so that the fees are lower)," he said.
"Ang sinasabi nga namin, kung kailangan ng batas niyan, sabihin niyo lang sa amin, walang problema. Ang problema, sila-sila 'yong gumawa eh, walang pahintulot ng batas at bawal pa sa batas (What we are saying is that, if they needed a law for that, just tell us, we'll have no problem. But the problem is they did it arbitrarily, without the authority of a law, and even in violation of laws)," he said.
Echoing this concern, Senator Grace Poe, who led, on Tuesday, the Senate hearing on the MVIS, raised possible irregularities in the selection of the PMVICs.
"Number one, they didn't go through a proper bidding process, which is normally required of a public-private partnership. Number two: There were questionable public hearings. DOTr, LTO claims that they conducted one, but many of the stakeholders, leaders of different advocacy groups who were supposed to have been consulted were not present during those hearings," Poe said in a separate interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.
"All of these public-private projects have gone through a gruelling process and scrutiny. Whereas this one, they allowed the 23...to operate with not one regulation in place," she pointed out.
Poe also said that authorities "suspiciously" removed the provision barring relatives of DOTR and LTO personnel to participate in the dealings.
"Initially, for any DOTr contract, it says that any member of the DOTr's family to a certain degree, is not allowed to participate. Suspiciously, in this PMVIC agreement, they took that out and all they did was put that those in the accrediting committee may not participate," she said.
"Meaning you can still be relative of an officer of the DOTr or the LTO, or you yourself in the DOTr, in the LTO, as long as you are not in selection, accrediting committee, you may actually own a PMVIC."
"So a question begs to be asked: Who are these preferred individuals who are able to win those licenses to operate those centers?"
The Senate Public Services Committee has asked the LTO to submit the names of those operating the PMVICs, as well as their incorporators.
Senators on Tuesday called for the suspension of the operations of the PMVICs. Poe said this will be formally recommended in the report to be submitted by the Senate committee next week.