A document revealed that the German contractor Dermalog, the company that handles the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) project of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), has also had problems with Indonesia and several other countries that resulted in the termination of its services.

Based on a letter of Indonesian Ambassador to the Philippines Agus Widjojo to Abono Party-List Rep. Robert Raymund Estrella, two months ago, the Dermalog failed to satisfy the requested services of Indonesian government.

Widjojo said the services have been discontinued because the said system has failed to deliver the requirements of the Indonesian government.

“However, due to licensing restrictions and prolonged processing time required to capture and match fingerprints through the system, the Dermalog Identification system has since been discontinued . It has been replaced with a more advanced biometric system that meets the current needs of our law enforcement agencies,” Widjojo said in his letter to Estrella, dated March 3, 2023.

In Indonesia, the Dermalog Identification System was implemented by the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency, particularly for the Indonesia Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (INAFIS) from 2005 to 2012.

The system was primarily used to digitally record fingerprints for criminal and non-criminal databases in 32 Regional Police Offices in Indonesia.

Also, it was learned that in 2017, Haiti also awarded a contract for new biometric devices for the renewal of national ID cards. The Haiti parliament did not give its agreement to the tender, The Superior Court of Accounts and

Administrative Disputes issued two unfavorable opinions on February 16 and April 11, 2018.

Then, the Senate Ethics and Anti Corruption Committee filed a report on May 24, 2019, finding serious errors and misappropriations of funds. In addition, there were issues on the delivery of ID cards to Haitian citizens which resulted in long queues in delivery/business centers.

In Angola, Dermalog was also accused of incompetence to maintain an efficient system after an upgrade. Angola police used AFIS in their criminal records They upgraded the system by acquiring 2,000 records, Afterwards, the system slowed down. Since 2012, the said system delivered by Dermalog was not used by Angola Police and replaced by a new solution from another AFIS solutions provider in 2017.

Meanwhile in the Philippines, the National Public Transport Coalition (NPTC) has called on both chambers of Congress to investigate Dermalog in connection with the unresolved issues in the implementation of the LTMS project that have repeatedly disrupted the operations of the LTO, particularly the processing of documents in getting a driver’s license and its renewal, as well as registration of vehicles.

NPTC president Ariel Lim said after 14 extensions and two-and-half years delay, Dermalog has yet to deliver in full the integrated system of the IT infrastructure despite substantial payment made by the LTO, amounting to 80% of the P3.4 billion contract.

Dermalog’s non-compliance with its contract, Lim pointed out, has resulted in delays in the processing of driver’s licenses and motor vehicle registrations, and other services, breed more corruption and open the door for the seamless registration of colorum public transport and even carnap vehicles. Jester Manalastas

The LTMS is a P3.4 billion project awarded to Dermalog and its local partners in 2018 under a joint venture agreement (JVA) to digitize LTO transactions.

Dermalog, as of press time, could not be reached for comments.