DOTC to decide RFID project's fate next week

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will decide next week whether to forge ahead with its controversial radio frequency identification (RFID) project.

Thompson Lantion, DOTC Undersecretary for Maritime Transport and spokesman, said DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza will make the decision on the fate of the project on Monday or Tuesday when he gets a report from Land Transportation Office director Assistant Secretary Arturo Lomibao.

“Mendoza has not yet given a green light on the project. By Monday or Tuesday, he will get a report from (LTO) Assistant Secretary Art Lomibao and make a decision,” Lantion told The Star in a phone interview.

DOTC Order 2009-06 called for the mandatory installation of RFID tags on all motor vehicles in the country to be implemented by the LTO. A vehicle owner will be charged a fee of P350 for each RFID tag.

As a result of vocal opposition from private motorists’ groups and public transport drivers, the DOTC postponed the implementation of the order from last October to this January.

Militant transport group Pagkakaisa ng Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide and party-list groups Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela filed a petition before the Supreme Court, asking for the scrapping of the project, which they said was anomalous and awarded without public bidding to LTO’s computerization contractor, Stradcom Corp.

The petitioners also said the DOTC had failed to submit the project to the National Economic Development Authority for review.

With an estimated 5.5 million motor vehicles in the country and a P350 fee for one RFID tag, Stradcom and the LTO could earn about P1.9 billion from the project, they said.

NEDA director general Augusto Santos earlier said the RFID project was illegal because the DOTC and LTO had failed to submit the project for review on its necessity as well as reasonableness of the fees to be collected for the project.