MANILA, Philippines -- Technology firm Stradcom Corp. has warned of a possible shutdown of the database and computer systems it operates for the Land Transportation Office (LTO) if the agency continues to refuse remitting payments to the private firm.
This will mean the 300,000 transactions handled by the LTO will have to be done manually, making the agency’s records prone to manipulation, which will allow “carnapping” syndicates to thrive.
At a briefing on Monday, the LTO’s exclusive information technology (IT) provider said the agency owed Stradcom over P1 billion in payments for providing the technology that has been automating transactions and record-keeping at the LTO.
Stradcom officials said LTO chief Virginia Torres has withheld payments to the company since October of last year “for no apparent reason.”
Stradcom’s revenues come from connectivity and computer fees paid by motorists whenever they register vehicles or get drivers’ licenses.
“At first, we were confused as to why she had ordered payments to Stradcom withheld,” Stradcom spokesperson Margaux Salcedo told reporters.
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) earlier said payments to Stradcom have been withheld due to an ongoing intra-corporate dispute between the company’s current chairman Cezar Quiambao and a group led by Bonifacio Sumbilla and Alderito Yujuico.
The department has issued two separate memoranda ordering the LTO to pay Stradcom, but these have been ignored.
In a letter to Torres in March, Quiambao said, “We cannot indefinitely sustain normal operations and maintenance of our LTO IT project’s systems and database without the remittance of payments you’ve been withholding for services duly rendered.”
The company said the withholding of payments could be used as a “force majeure” or a situation beyond its control that Stradcom could invoke to shut down its operations.
“LTO employees will be unable to process manually the combined average of 300,000 daily transactions that computerization allows,” Salcedo said.
“The process of registering vehicles and drivers licenses will once again take weeks to months instead of being achieved in one hour, as has been made possible by computerization. Criminals will be emboldened. Expect the proliferation of ‘fixers’ as well as ‘carnappers,’” she added.
Salcedo said Stradcom would do its “best” to maintain operations, but she did not say how long this could be maintained without the company earning any revenue.
When reached for her statement, Torres declined to give a comment.
The Department of Justice earlier recommended Torres’ suspension for bungling the handling of the dispute, leading to the shutdown of Stradcom’s operations for seven hours last December 9 in a failed takeover of the company by the Sumbilla group. (report from Paolo Montecillo/Philippine Daily Inquirer)
