LTO IT providers in hot water

By Mario J. Mallari

04/20/2010

Information technology providers of Land Transportation Office-accredited private emission testing centers (PETCs) are now in hot water after LTO’s exclusive IT arm, Stradcom Corp., accused them of breach of contract for non-payment of uploaded information from the LTO.

In a statement, Stradcom Corp. stressed that IT providers of PETCs are required to pay P36 for “every emission test upload” from the LTO system but they have not done so despite charging the same to their clients.

Worse, there were previous reports of overcharging by these IT providers from their clients as they allegedly collect P80 for each vehicle.

There were also allegations that the system being used by IT providers of PETCs has not addressed the perennial problem of non-appearance of vehicles during registration, apparently to evade smoke emission test.

This prompted the LTO to pursue a direct connection of the PETCs to the LTO IT system, managed by Stradcom, without having to go through the PETC IT providers. This, the LTO believes, will result to better service and even cheaper cost for the motoring public.

This new system is also expected to be more effective in addressing the problem of non appearance because it will no longer have a middle layer where the testing can be manipulated and will directly connect to the LTO.

According to Stradcom Corp., the problem of non-appearance has been a dilemma for years and the direct connectivity of PETCs IT system to that of LTO will address this issue.

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