Motoring Today Column

Nov 01, 2023

A storm in a teacup may be brewing at the Land Transportation Office . Although some fear the storm could intensify into a typhoon and upend the teacup itself.

This is the plan of the LTO to fully takeover its entire IT network including the Land Transportation Management System .

In a press statement, LTO chief Vigor D. Mendoza II said the plan is in line with the marching order of President Bongbong Marcos to DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista to digitalize all the government transactions.

Mendoza added that the takeover will also expedite all the technical issues raised by the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) with the LTMS under Dermalog.

TheDICThad earlier raised 14 deficiencies in the LTMS system and 166 needed enhancements to further improve the system.

"Our IT experts are capable of operating and maintaining the system. In fact,

sila po ang talagang nagtrabaho at patuloy na nagta-trabaho para ayusin ang sistema para maging madali at komportable sa ating mga end-users, and eventually maging fully-utilized na ang ating online platform," he said.

Mendoza also said government would save more money and could better maintain the IT network and system with a full takover.

"Magiging mas madali ang pag-maintain ng system at mas makakatipid ang gobyerno na maayos ang lahat ng deficiencies na nakita ng DICT because we are moving towards 100% utilization of the computer system na nabayaran ng goyerno ng mahigit P3 billion," he said.

"Kayang-kaya nating i-take over ito. In fact, this was the reason why I created a Technical Working Group and right now, we are in the final phase of review and assessment for full implementation by next month," he added.

This early, questions are being raised. Can the LTO legally take over the LTMS from Dermalog? Will the LTO again be embroiled in court battles? Will this affect online operations and transactions of the agency?

Funding Railways

It appears that government is encountering problems funding major railway projects.

The past administration had excited advocates for railroads pushing a host of major railway projects while overhauling and upgrading existing light rail transit systems.

Most of these railway projects were funded by loans from China . These included the South Long Haul Project, the Mindanao Railway Project, and the Subic-Clark Railway .

However just before the change in administration, the Department of Finance unilaterally withdrew the loan request with China that covered these three major projects, imperiling their continuation.

Perhaps DOF officials didn't want to saddle the incoming administration of President Bongbong Marcos with a state loan that had a 3 percent interest when other Official Development Assistance grants from countries like Japan had as low as 0.1 interest rates along with years-long grace periods.

It was with some relief to rail transit advocates that the new President directed the DOF to negotiate with China for lower interest rates, indicating that development of railway remains a priority.

Recent reports however point to difficulties with coming into new agreements with China.

The latest news coming out of the Department of Transportation is that it was dropping China and was looking for other lending sources as partner for the South Long Haul Project, Mindanao Railway Project, andSubic-Clark Railway.

But Secretary Bautista said he was not saddened by this development as there are other sources of developmental assistance available, including those from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Bautista had earlier attended the "Korea-Philippine Infrastructure and Plant Forum" where he presented the DOTr's transport portfolio of projects in various stages of planning, approval and implementation, which included 59 in railways and 47 under roads.

The Korean Embassy in Manila partnered with the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) to hold the forum attended by around 60 Filipino companies and 34 Korean firms specializing in construction and engineering.

Korean Ambassador to the Philippines Lee Sang-hwa revealed that his government has increased its Economic Development Cooperation Fund loan limit from $1 billion to $3 billion.

He added that Korean companies were interested in exploring projects in varied sectors including roads and railways.

Government appears to be casting a wider net for ODA funds as well as private sector partners for railway and other major infrastructure projects.

This bodes well for railway projects that advocates maintain should be a major backbone of our mass transport network.

Festival Reminder

Those who are planning vehicle purchases this long holiday season should know that Auto Focus Pre-Christmas Test Drive Festival presented by Caltex will be held at Block 16 of the SM Mall of Asia Open Grounds on November 16 to 19.

The annual event brings together in one venue the country's biggest and best brands to showcase and provide test drives of their local lineup of vehicles.

Expected to participate in the country's biggest multi-brand test drive festival are Changan, Ford, GAC, GWM, Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, and Toyota.

Happy Motoring!!!

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