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By James Konstantin Galvez, Reporter
Leaders of various transport groups held a dialogue with Stradcom
Corporation to find solutions to their grievances on operational and
service issues concerning the Land Transportation Office-Information
Technology Project.
The transport groups raised questions on
computer systems glitches, work processes and motor vehicle
insurance concerns.
Alliance of Concerned Transport Operators (ACTO)
President Efren de Luna cited specific instances, especially in the
provinces, where the computer system could not function because of
brownouts.
These delayed transactions, caused what de Luna
described as unnecessary stress and anxiety on the part of their
member drivers.
He cited some instances where ACTO members
showed up early at the LTO regional office to beat renewal
deadlines, but were told to come back as there was no power that
day.
In an interview, Stradcom officials led by
Vice-President for Business Operations Ramon Reyes explained most
system glitches experienced are due to forces beyond the control of
Stradcom, such as power failures and intermittent phone services. He
assured that the company and LTO are working together to address
specific cases.
“One example was in Bicol, where the LTO
bought a generator set for its regional office after typhoons downed
power lines,” said Reyes.
Stradcom continues to invest heavily in the LTO-IT
Project, noting that it spent P60 million in January to upgrade the
system alone. These system upgrades resulted in improved operations,
said Reyes.
LTO operations now feature faster transaction
time, more client friendly service and increased protection for the
public against fraud and inaccuracies.
Reyes said the LTO-IT Project is regularly
upgraded and that if there were system problems, these were isolated
cases.
Lawyer Vigor Mendoza of the United Transport
Alliance Koalisyon (Utak) sought clarification on the computer fee
allegedly collected by Stradcom for the processing of motor vehicle
insurance, better known as Comprehensive Third Party liability (CTPL),
an LTO requirement before a vehicle can be registered.
Earlier, LTO claimed that the campaign to weed
out fly-by-night insurance companies that sell fake CTPL has been
successful.
In a statement, LTO added that affected
insurance firms are desperate in looking for a way to somehow stop
the crackdown, adding that they were able to stop the proliferation
of CTPL-certificates of cover (CTPL-COC).
Under the COCVF, each CTPL insurance policy is
locked in on a specific car owner and vehicle in the LTO-IT system
that supposedly protects car owners from being victimized by bogus
CTPL insurance policies.
The new system is also expected to stop
unscrupulous insurance firms from issuing one CTPL insurance policy
to multiple vehicles.
Some unscrupulous insurance firms are reportedly
engaged in the selling of fake CTPL and are now involved in a smear
campaign against Stradcom to take it out of the picture and ensure
their return to illegal operations.
The said groups are claiming that the LTO has
failed to stop CTPL anomalies and should replace Stradcom as the
agency’s IT partner for its incompetence.
Stradcom believes that complaints are coming
from these fly-by-night insurance firms, who have lost their
business because of the system put up by the LTO-Stradcom that would
make it impossible for them to continue their illegal transactions.
Reyes defended the P45-computer fee and
explained that Stradcom put in a working, secure and verifiable
system that protects the interests of car owners, LTO and the
insurance companies.
Atty. Eric Pilapil, Stradcom’s Vice-President
for Legal Affairs, said the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers
Association Inc. (PIRA) committed that insurance companies will
absorb the computer fees, and not pass it onto the consumers.
Pilapil claimed that PIRA made this commitment
during a consultative meeting with the Department of Transportation
and Communications (DOTC), Insurance Commission, CTPL insurance
stakeholders, PIRA and Stradcom held June 2007.
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