The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is now reviewing the procurement process for the 756 units of breath analyzers in 2015 and in 2017 amid allegations that they were overpriced.
LTO chief, Assistant Secretary Vigor D. Mendoza II said the move is to shed light on the allegations that were brought up during a discussion in the Senate, particularly the overpricing issue raised by Sen. Raffy Tulfo.
”Our first objective actually is really to fix the purchased breath analyzers because what is important right now is to re-distribute them to our personnel on the ground for the strict implementation of the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act of 2013,” said Mendoza.
“The second is to review what happened in the past to determine if there were lapses and who could be held liable for that,” he added.
Based on the initial result of the investigation, the first batch of 150 units in 2015 were bought at P68,000 per piece while the second batch of more than 600 units were bought at P38,000 each.
Tulfo said that he finds the price of the unit too pricy comparing it with those they saw abroad which were at P5,000 to P14,000 in the United States; P3,000 in Thailand; and P22,000 in China.
In the Senate, it was discussed that all the breath analyzers are no longer functional.
This was confirmed by Mendoza who added that only 288 of the 756 units could be fixed and recalibrated.
Currently, Mendoza said they are conducting an analysis if it would be more practical to buy new breath analyzers than have them fixed and recalibrated.
But what Mendoza assured is that if the LTO would purchase new breath analyzers, the procurement process would be transparent.