Quo vadis is a Latin phrase meaning “Where are you going?”. It is perhaps appropriate that we ask this question about our LTO (Land Transportation Office). I love many things about the LTO such as the 10-year driver’s license, but has been issuing paper licenses for over a year now due to the lack of the normal plastic cards. While there may have been legitimate reasons for this such as legal issues, the motoring public is the one suffering. We all know that these issues can take many years to resolve such as the COA audit in 2023 that the LTO has yet to deliver 1,797,000 pairs of license plates to their owners, with a total value of P808.7 million, some dating back to 2015.
Another well intentioned project of the LTO is the LTMS (Land Transportation Management System) Portal which is supposed to be a web-based system that automates different transactions for motorists in the Philippines, including overseas Filipinos. According to the LTO, the LTMS is a cornerstone of their five-year modernization program to make it more efficient and give its clients the convenience of online service. What a wonderful plan! This certainly deserves the support of everyone!
Recently, the House Committee on Transportation Chairman and Antipolo City 2nd District Representative Romeo Acop and other lawmakers want to rescind the contract with the foreign information technology provider Dermalog Joint Venture, which developed the P3.14 billion LTMS Portal, for a number of reasons.
Dermalog allegedly violated provisions of the Government Procurement Manual when it failed to submit the required deliverables on time despite being granted 13 deadline extensions. According to Representative Acop, these violations already amounted to P1.119 billion in liquidated damages, which merit the filing of termination or recission of the contract. In response, LTO chief Asec. Vigor Mendoza II said the LTO is finalizing its legal steps to proceed with the contract termination with the help of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).
Another concern with the LTMS is that Dermalog repeatedly refused to turn over the source code to the LTO that would allow it to implement changes in the system. It was also questioned by Representative Acop why the LTO allowed a sole payment channel platform, Paynamics, to connect to the LTMS. Paynamics charges convenience fees amounting to P60 to P80 for every successful transaction with the LTMS. In comparison, other payment systems will only cost P12 to P15.
It seems the issues with the LTO do not stop there. A letter from the LTO/DOTr to the Private Emission Testing Centers (PETCs) dated last month was asking for their position paper on the MANDATORY vehicle inspection tests as a requirement of the annual motor vehicle registration. It seems that the outrage of the motoring public against PMVICs (Private Motor Vehicle Inspection Centers) during the previous administration has quieted down and another attempt to implement this mandatory inspection is afoot.
As it is, getting your smoke emission testing done at the PETCs (Private Emission Testing Centers) can already take longer than the time it takes you to do the actual vehicle registration with the LTO. Based on the figures provided by the LTO, there are currently 14,335,444 registered motor vehicles, 577 PETCs and 113 PMVIC as of December 2023. They want to get rid of the PETCs and have all the 14,335,444 vehicles go through 113 PMVICs! What MADNESS is this? Do we even have any statistics of vehicular accidents that are due to lack of safety inspections? Are there perhaps only certain types of vehicles that are more prone to accidents due to lack of proper maintenance? Would it not be better for the LTO to resolve all their current issues before creating new ones? Quo vadis LTO? Maybe time to say “PARA PO!”
The views and comments of the author are his own and not of the newspaper or FINEX. Dr. George S. Chua was 2016 FINEX President, 2010 to 2020 FPI President, an active entrepreneur, a regular member of the National Press Club, a Professorial Lecturer 2 at UP Diliman and BGC, and loves playing golf. Comments may be sent to [email protected].