Five major transport groups on Tuesday slammed Germany-based Dermalog, the information technology provider of the Land Transportation Office, for its “inefficiency” and “slow processing” in the application for the biometric driver’s licenses, vehicle registration and other transactions.
During a media briefing, Robert “Ka Obet” Martin, Pasang Masda national president, also hit the previous LTO officials for “non-transparency” and “failure to consult the transport groups” in tapping Dermalog as the official IT system provider of the agency’s Land Transportation Management System (LTMS).
Martin was joined by Mody Floranda of the Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide, Boy Vargas of the Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, Liberty de Luna of the Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations and Orlando Marquez Sr. of the Liga ng Transportasyon at Operators sa Pilipinas.
“Transport groups back any of the IT providers that can offer the best service. The new LTO chief is just a month in his position. Why must he issue a public apology?” Vargas said.
He was referring to the call of lawyer Nikki de Vega of Dermalog that Assistant Secretary and LTO chairperson Teofilo Guadiz III must apologize to Dermalog for blaming it over processing delays and long lines in district offices in the National Capital Region and in several provinces.
“Dermalog, not Guadiz, must apologize,” he told reporters.
The transport leaders urged the LTO to rescind its contract with Dermalog, and the Senate and House of Representatives to conduct a separate investigation into the “undue payments made by LTO’s past administration to Dermalog despite its poor performance.” With Jun David
Along with Vargas, Marquez, however, denied recommending any IT contractor to replace Dermalog.
“We at the public transport sector are not the only ones that are badly affected by the poor services of Dermalog but also the private motorists,” Marquez stressed.
In an interview, Martin told the Manila Standard that “based on my experience and study, Stradcom Corp., the previous IT provider of LTO, has better services than Dermalog.”
In a statement, Guadiz said both the LTO and Dermalog officials “agreed to resolve the problems being experienced by the motoring public in transacting with the agency the past few days.”
One of the solutions being pursued is the activation of motor vehicle registration information system (MVRIS), “which both the LTO and Dermalog believe could help in reducing the long lines in various LTO offices.”
“I fully support MVRIS in the public portal of LTMS for the renewal of vehicles as this will greatly reduce the lines in our offices. With this activation it will be possible to renew your vehicles without needing to line up at LTO offices around the country,” Guadiz cited. With Jun David