Ejercito Seeks Investigation of 3.8 Billion LTO License Plate Program

Senator JV Ejercito filed a resolution calling for the investigation of the alleged irregularities on the bidding process for the procurement of motor vehicles plate amounting to Php 3.8 Billion.

Ejercito cited in his Senate Resolution No. 1239 the allegations that the bids and awards committee (BAC) favored the Dutch company J. Knieriem BV-Goes despite its financial incapacity and experience. The Resolution also cited the need to investigate on serious allegations surrounding the process like the changes in the requirements and term of reference in favor of the winning bidder.

"We need to examine and scrutinize the bidding process undertaken by the DOTC-BAC to find out if transparency and competitiveness were employed. These are crucial in protecting the public funds to be utilized in the program implementation" Ejercito said.

The supply and delivery of the license plates was awarded to the Joint Venture of Power Plates Development Concepts, Inc. and Dutch firm J. Knieriem BV-Goes on July 22, 2013.

In 2014, the Senate committee on Public Services called the attention of the Transportation Secretary because of the delayed program implementation. The standardization program is expected to aid law enforcement because of its security features.

"Until now, we are experiencing problems in the implementation. There are complaints as to the delay in the issuance of new plates." Ejercito said.

"We need to know if these problems stemmed out from the alleged irregularities in the bidding process" he added.

The resolution filed by Ejercito was referred to the Blue Ribbon committee on Tuesday.