Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said he supports the initiative of Senator Richard Gordon to file plunder charges against DOTr and Land Transportation Office officials involved in allegedly irregular contracts and advance payments in line with the five-year motor vehicle license plate standardization program.
“If there are culprits and scalawags in our midst, let them be exposed. Let the Blue Ribbon committee hearing be a time for us to reiterate the DOTr’s anti-corruption drive, which we have been strongly implementing since 2016,” Tugade said.
“Panagutin natin ang mga kailangang managot. Kung may anomalya, supilin natin,” he added.
He assured Gordon the DOTr and the LTO will fully cooperate in the investigation to help expose anomalous transactions, if any.
“Rest assured that no one will be above the law,” the department said in a statement.
Gordon earlier berated former and current officials of the LTO and the DOTr for the delay in the production and distribution of vehicle license plates.
“The sufferings of the public – whoever causes damage to third parties and other agencies – amounts to (an) anti-graft (case),” he said.
“Since this involved a huge amount of money, there can be plunder. That’s what we are looking into,” added Gordon, chairman of the powerful Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.
In a television interview, Gordon enumerated numerous violations committed by officials from both the Aquino and Duterte administrations.
He said the DOTr in 2013 opened the bidding for the procurement of license plates even without budget appropriation.
He said former Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Jose Lotilla then signed a multi-year contract with PPI-JKG without securing a Multi-Year Obligational Authority from the Department of Budget and Management.
The Commission on Audit called the procurement transaction “irregular and illegal,” and disallowed an advance payment to PPI-JKG worth P478 million.
A Supreme Court restraining order halted the production of license plates for both motor vehicles and motorcycles in 2016.
“This is the fault of the LTO and the DOTr,” the senator said.
