LTO chief says it will ease traffic

MANILA - Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño on Thursday said the P2.45 billion radio frequency identification (RFID) project of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has all the makings of a "midnight deal" for being both overpriced and failing to go under public bidding.

Casiño said a group of public interest lawyers will seek a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the project's implementation after discovering that the project did not undergo any public hearing or bidding before it was approved. He said he based his observations on a department circular of the Department of Transportation and Communications and a memorandum circular of the LTO.

"This smells and looks like a midnight deal. This merits a congressional investigation...," he said in a radio dzMM interview.

Casiño said the two documents showed that RFID project was inserted as an "enhancement" of an existing LTO information technology project, which was undertaken by Stradcom Corporation under a build-operate-own (BOO) scheme. He said the original cost of the project is P2.45 billion.

Under the project, all vehicles will be given stickers containing a microchip that stores vehicle information. The chip allows traffic enforcers to identify and know everything about a specific vehicle with the speed of electronic computing.

The LTO said motorists will pay a one-time tagging fee of P350 when they register their vehicles. The RFID tag is expected to last 10 years.

Casiño, however, said RFID tags only cost about $0.10 to $0.20 or about P10 each, based on a random check on the Internet. "Even if we double the price, it should still be cheaper than the P350 that LTO will be charging," he said.

He also questioned a notation on LTO memorandum circular 2009-11 that said the RFID tags will contain "other data deemed necessary", which he said violates the vehicle owner's right to privacy.

Casiño said members of the National Union of People's Lawyers have found sufficient grounds to question the RFID project. "We are asking for official documents including the contract [with Stradcom]. We are waiting for the contract before filing the legal case," he said.

Ease traffic, fight carnapping

Transportation Assistant Secretary Arturo Lomibao earlier said the RFID tags will lead to more efficient traffic law enforcement through the quick identification of “colorum” vehicles. This in turn will help improve traffic flow and lessen air pollution.

He said law enforcers could also use the RFID tags to identify stolen vehicles in real time as they pass scanners in police checkpoints along their routes of escape.

Lomibao said RFID technology is being used to manage traffic and vehicular registries in the United States, Britain, and other western countries; and in Asia, by Japan and Singapore.

“The RFID technology will revolutionize land transportation in the Philippines. This is a great first step in putting order in our streets,” said Lomibao.

He said the RFID tags are also used in in e-passports, which are now being issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs. With Business Mirror