AQUINO ORDERED DOTC CHIEF TO ALTER REPORT ON LTO DEAL
MANILA, JUNE 13, 2011 (TRIBUNE) EXCLUSIVE By Charlie V. Manalo - The cat is out of the bag. Transportation and Communications Secretary Jose "Ping" de Jesus did not resign from his post due to health reasons but rather quit in disgust after President Aquino ordered him to change his recommendation on the automated system being rendered by Land Transportation Office (LTO) Information Technology (IT) provider Stradcom that will in effect terminate its contract with the government which was the demand of no less than Aquino's favorite kabarilan (shooting buddy), LTO head Virginia Torres.
The Tribune yesterday obtained a copy of a memorandum for the President written by De Jesus on the Stradcom deal which pointed out lost opportunities for the government if the deal is terminated.
The memorandum, dated May 23, 2011, received by the Palace at four in the afternoon or three days later on May 26 and assigned Reference No. RE0056600, contained in details the findings of the DoTC on the benefits of Stradcom's automated system for LTO.
The DoTC study was based on Aquino's directive for the agency to submit a report on the benefits derived from the LTO IT Project under the Build-Own-Operate agreement between the DoTC-LTO and Stradcom.
In his memorandum, de Jesus stated that the LTO IT Project, entered into on May 26, 1998 as amended, "is now in its full blown stage, with available databases, application systems, processes and infrastructure that enables LTO to process transaction online and verify, retrieve and update records real-time."
The Stradcom integrated system has five main components: motor vehicle registration system (MVRS); driver's licensing system (DLS); law enforcement and traffic adjudication system (LETAS); revenue collection system (RCS); and financial administrative system (FAS).
With the availability of common modules running through the information highway, De Jesus said the LTO-Central Office is now connected with its 287 field offices nationwide aside from other agencies including the Metropolitan Manila Development Auhority (MMDA), Bureau of Customs (BoC), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and insurance companies.
This set-up, de Jesus said, has greatly reduced turnaround time for transaction processing and ensured the authenticity of data electronic information sharing.
In sum, the DoTC secretary stressed, the LTO IT Project resulted in reduced the processing time of all transactions such as renewal of vehicle registration from four hours to less than one hour; issuance of new driver's license from six months to four hours; renewal of driver's license from three months to 30 minutes; adjudication of admitted offense from eight hours to 15 minutes; and information queries from three to 15 days to five minutes.
It also provided an audit trail showing vehicle history, license history and violations history can be accessed online in contrast to the tedious and time-consuming verification associated to manual files, connectivity with other government agencies and private entities resulting in faster processing time, authentic and valid information, elimination of human intervention, elimination of data redundancy and compliance to e-Commerce initiatives, transactions going through the Web modernizing of LTO's public service delivery.
Without going to LTO and in the comforts of their homes and offices, the transacting public can request for certifications of vehicle records and violations records online. Under development is the renewal of licenses for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and international recognition of the Driver's Licensing Process Quality Management System through ISO 9001:2000.
Going back to manual, De Jesus added, will be tedious and counterproductive.
"LTO will regress and the transacting public will suffer," De Jesus stated in his memorandum adding that all the benefits of the automated system at LTO will be negated.
But apparently, De Jesus' memorandum did not sit well with the President and the very next day after the Palace received the document, on Friday, May 27, Aquino, according one of the four undersecretaries who resigned with De Jesus, talked to them, ordering them to change their recommendation.
"(President) Aquino asked us to change our recommendations and instead recommend for the speedy termination of the Stradcom contract by citing there are no benefits to the Stradcom contract," said the former DoTC undersecretary requesting anonymity.
"But we refused."
The next working day, Monday, May 30, De Jesus tendered his resignation which Aquino accepted two days later on June 1. The following day, all of De Jesus' four undersecretaries Glicerio Sicat, Dante Velasco, Ruben Reinoso and Aristotle Batuhan followed suit, resigning from their posts as well.
One of the former DoTC undersecretaries added that Aquino, by claiming there are no benefits with Stradcom's automated system, is contradicting himself as he (Aquino) himself lauded the LTO for its efficiency in delivering services.
"(President) Aquino is contradicting himself as he credited the LTO for a very efficient system when he renewed his license on his birthday last Feb. 8," said the Tribune source.
The Tribune source further claimed Aquino was not telling the truth when he contradicted their findings saying there is no benefit with the Stradcom system and that it is incapable of stopping the modus operandi of carjackers in using registered plates of wrecked vehicles for their stolen cars.
"Our findings refuted that. We have detailed all the benefits which could be derived from the automated system as he instructed us to do. The system being employed by LTO's IT service provider has the capacity to access not only the vehicle's history but as well as that of the driver's licenses and violator's histories," said the Tribune source. "It is just up to the LTO to access the records. They have with them the passwords they needed to do that."
At a press briefing last week when former Sen. Mar Roxas assumed the DoTC post, Aquino was quoted saying that the people representing LTO could not really give him a definitive answer as to what benefits the people accrue from the Stradcom deal.
"If at all, the main claim is that we have computerized the records as oppose to inputting it manually," Aquino told reporters adding he wants a system that would be able stop the modus operandi of carjackers in using registered plates of wrecked vehicles for their stolen cars.
"That cannot be done by computers alone. Stradcom does not have that capacity," the President said.
The Tribune source lamented the way Aquino debunked their findings saying that not only their work went for naught but in so doing, the President is also trying to portray them as liars.
"Not did we work for nothing. Now, he (Aquino) is making us liars by stating those things," the source said.
Ironically, the source averred, while the President is trying to picture them as villains, he is trying to project Torres as a heroine.
Torres, Aquino confirmed, will be reporting back for work as LTO chief as her 60-day leave is set to expire sometime this month.
"I think the penalty that was prescribed has already been meted out. She will resume her duties by Saturday, the third week of this month," Aquino said during the same press briefing last week. "Now, her position that she stated was to come up with terms of reference in the subsequent ending of the contract of Stradcom."
"Again, he (Aquino) is not telling the truth," said the source. "What penalty had been meted out!"
"He did not suspend Torres as recommended by the Department of Justice (DoJ). Torres merely took a leave of absence as what he had asked of her."
The resigned DoTC undersecretary said Aquino, based on his pronouncements, was really bent on toeing Torres' line that the Stadcom contract be terminated.
"First, he asked us to alter our report and recommend that the Stradcom contract be terminated. Then, he asked us to prepare to go manual. Ant then he publicly announces that Torres was to come up with terms of reference in the subsequent ending of the contract of Stradcom," the source said.
"Gusto naman pala niya (Aquino) na i-terminate ang contract ng Stradcom and for the LTO to revert to manual operations, so why did he order Secretary Ping and the DoTC to submit a report on the benefits derived from the LTO IT Project under the DoTC/LTO and Stradcom agreement," he added.
"And going back to manual operations would mean he (Aquino) would be willing to sacrifice P15 billion in income resulting from the automated transactions as compared to P1 billion income from manual operations once Torres is reinstated," the Tribune source stressed.
Asked if Torres could have an agenda, hidden or otherwise, in trying to revert LTO back to manual operations, the resigned DoTC official said he, just like his other colleagues, is also at a lost.
"Last December, she (Torres) was spotted along with other men belonging to the group of Bonifacio Sumbila and Aderito Yujuico trying forcing their entry to the Stradcom facilities. Now she's moving heaven and hell so that the Stadcom contract be terminated and LTO revert back to manual operations," said the source. "We could only surmise. And your guess could be as good as mine."
"What I am wondering about is the sway that Torres has on the President. Is she simply a shooting buddy or does she hold an ace over him?" he added.
A major transport group, meanwhile, urged Aquino not to reinstate Torres if only to save the LTO's gains through the years.
Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (Fejodap) president Zenaida Maranan particularly slammed Torres' proposed return to manual system at the LTO amidst conflict with the agency's exclusive information technology provider Stradcom Corp.
Maranan said Torres' move is totally unacceptable to the transport group as manual system would erase all the gains of the LTO made over the years with regards to its drive against colorum and out of line utility vehicles.
Maranan also called on incoming Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II not to reinstate Torres.
Malacanang already announced Torres' return to LTO after serving her 60-day leave of absence. Actually, the DoJ recommended administrative sanctions against Torres for negligence in connection with the illegal takeover of Stradcom building inside the LTO compound last December.
It will be recalled that the group of businessman Bonifacio Sumbilla attempted to forcible take over Stradcom last Dec. 9. The Stradcom management, led by Cesar Quiambao, accused Torres of conniving with Sumbilla's group.
At the same time, Maranan scored the DoJ for alleged inaction to Torres' case, citing her fate lies on the hands of Aquino being a presidential appointee.
Maranan said that seeming preferential treatment on Torres only sends the wrong signal to the stakeholders in the transport sector.
Aquino has earned so much criticism in protecting his "KKK," which stands for kaibigan (friends), kaklase (classmates) and kabarilan (shooting buddy). Aside from Torres, Aquino also retained Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno despite controversy hounded him regarding jueteng payola. Mario J. Mallari
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