FOLLOWING the Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) pronouncements that it may revert to its previous Information Technology (IT) provider, a lawmaker has called for a congressional inquiry into the legality and soundness of doing so.

Representative Bernadette Herrera of Bagong Henerasyon Party-list, recently told members of the press that she intends to deliver a privilege speech to outline the possible adverse results of the LTO’s “seemingly hasty” reaction.

Herrera likewise underscored that this course of action may “set the agency backward by several steps”, and “ultimately result in increased costs and longer, more difficult transactions for the motoring public.”

“During my consultations with key stakeholders, they were very appreciative of the fact that the current IT provider of the LTO no longer charges interconnectivity fees for motor vehicle registration, driver’s license transactions, and law enforcement and traffic adjudication service transactions, unlike before,” Herrera emphasized.

“The LTO is claiming that the current system has “glitches”, but there are reports from the field which indicate that these glitches are actually due to human interventions and manual overrides done by agency personnel,” the lawmaker pointed out.

Since 2018, the LTO’s IT systems provider has been Dermalog Identification Systems, a German company with a 27-year track record in biometrics and data security, with operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India.

In a recent media interview, LTO Chief Teofilo Guadiz lambasted Dermalog’s services and said, “the old IT system provides a better solution.”

AUTHOR PROFILE

Randolph S. Flores