LTO-accredited PETCs lash back at Stradcom

Some Land Transportation Office-accredited private emission testing centers (PETCs) yesterday lashed back at Stradcom Corp., accusing the LTO’s information technology provider of trying to monopolize IT procedures in the government agency.

Officials from the LTO-accredited PETCs, at the same time, turned the tables against Stradcom Corp., claiming the private company has no legal basis in pursuing direct connectivity with PETCs and accused it of muscling up the PETCs to enter into such set-up, allegedly to monopolize the system.

The PETC officials also denied allegations of conflict of interest by Stradcom Corp. against some PETCs whose management and ownership are the same with their IT provider, as they claimed that there are no formal complaints against the PETCs as to date.

Lawyer Dan Barrameda, of RDMS testing center, explained that Stradcom Corp.’s direct connect facility is one clear case of conflict of interest, saying the LTO-IT provider collects fees from LTO and also from the PETCs which transmit data for processing.

Barrameda said Stradcom as the IT provider of LTO receives the data from the PETC and validates the same, and under its direct connect facility, it is the IT provider of the PETC that transmits the data to the LTO-IT system.

It is a clear case of conflict of interest because it transmits and receives unto itself, Barrameda said.

Jay Bautista, of Eurolink PETC, seconded Barrameda’s statements even as he claimed the direct connectivity of Stradcom Corp. to individual PETCs is still under operational testing but it is already collecting payment from the PETC which is clearly anomalous.

On the other hand, Mark Halili, of ETC-IT, branded Stradcom’s earlier claim of breach of contract and non-payment of P38 million by PETCs as pure harassment.

He also clarified the alleged violation of PETC-IT providers to Department Order 2005-37 of the Department of Transportation and Communications has no basis and is not enough reason to stop the operation of the IT Providers.

He said this move is a pure harassment of the IT providers because the Stradcom wants to monopolize the business.