LTO chief denies planning to resign

MANILA, Philippines - Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Alfonso Tan Jr. dismissed as “speculative” reports that he would likely vacate his post before President Aquino steps down in June 2016.

Sources told The STAR yesterday that Tan would resign over the shortage of car plates and problems on the issuance of driver’s licenses.

But Tan denied the story, dismissing it as mere “speculative information.”

Sources said Tan would render his resignation after the Christmas break or early in January to spare himself from being blamed for the LTO’s thwarted innovation efforts on the issuance of driver’s licenses and car plates.

The Department of Transportation and Communications recommended Tan to head the LTO after former LTO chief Virginia Torres retired in November 2013. He first joined the LTO in September 2011 when he was appointed as executive director by then DOTC secretary Mar Roxas.

Asked if the driver’s license and car plates problems will persist until after Aquino’s term ends, Tan pointed out that the LTO should not have encountered these had the new policies and reforms he initiated been followed.

“I guess, policy-wise, we’ve done what we can do and could have done to address all of these,” Tan said.

He previously lamented that LTO’s hands are tied after the Commission on Audit (COA) issued the order to suspend the payments to its previous driver’s license cards supplier Amalgamated Motors Philippines Inc. (AMPI).

The LTO then, in May, decided to award the license cards contract, worth P336.87 million, to Allcard Plastics Philippines Inc. However, the deal was also suspended after the Manila Regional Trial Court issued a writ of injunction.

Tan said he is discussing with the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to find if it would be best to seek a reconsideration of the order or simply elevate the matter to the Court of Appeals.   

Compounding his problem was the July order of the COA to stop the license plate deal between the LTO and the Dutch-Filipino consortium PPI-JKG Philippines Inc. for allegedly violating the country’s procurement law.