2 transport execs suspended over LTO’s use of old IT system
The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the preventive suspension of two former chiefs of the Land Transportation Office (LTO)—who have since headed other agencies—for alleged grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service during their respective stints in the LTO.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said Office of Transportation Cooperatives Chair Teofilo Guadiz III and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Chair Vigor Mendoza II were suspended on Aug. 17 for allowing the continued use of an old infotech (IT) system, despite its replacement by another system already in operation before Guadiz was appointed to the LTO.
The operation of two IT systems in the agency caused “an additional burden” amounting to about P13 billion that was charged to the “transacting public,” Clavano said.
Guadiz headed the agency for four months in 2022 and Mendoza was LTO chief from 2023 to 2025.
Citing findings by the Commission on Audit, Clavano said “Guadiz and later Mendoza both pushed for the use of the Stradcom IT system,” alongside the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) already in place before Guadiz became LTO chief.
LTO’s IT partners
Stradcom, the IT company earlier contracted by the LTO, operated the agency’s system from 2003 to 2018, a period of 15 years that covered the company’s 10-year concession period plus several extensions.
In 2018, the government contracted a joint venture led by biometrics company Dermalog Identification Systems for the operation of LTMS.
But Guadiz, upon heading the LTO, “favored Stradcom,” the Ombudsman said, adding that he found that “the old IT system provides a better solution.”
With the Stradcom system allowed to resume operations, “the transacting public”—various motorists availing themselves of the LTO’s licenses and other permits—had to pay an additional P13.3 billion in computer fees in the period covering Guadiz’s tenure and that of Mendoza.
This constituted “sufficient grounds for their preventive suspension, citing strong evidence showing their guilt,” Clavano said.
‘Good faith’
Clavano explained that preventive suspension is “intended not as a penalty but to preserve documents and evidence and prevent possible further malfeasance or misfeasance in office.”
Both Guadiz and Mendoza said they respect the suspension order.
But in a statement, Mendoza said “I have yet to see the copy of the official order and once received, this will serve as the basis to reiterate my position and present evidence-backed legal arguments that all my actions when I was still the LTO chief were all for the protection and interest of not only the motorists but also the Filipino people.”
Guadiz also said he had yet to receive a copy of the order.
“I remain confident that the evidence and the official records will show that the actions I took during my tenure as chief of the Land Transportation Office were lawful, undertaken in good faith, and guided by my duty to serve the public interest,” he said.
