DOJ probe: LTO chief, Stradcom faction tagged in failed takeover

MANILA, Philippines - The current management of information technology firm Stradcom Corp. presented before the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday two pieces of evidence of an alleged conspiracy between a faction in the firm and Land Transportation Office chief Virginia Torres in last month’s failed takeover of the Stradcom building in the LTO compound.

Stradcom president and chief executive officer Cezar Quiambao told a DOJ fact-finding panel during the probe body’s first hearing yesterday that Torres reportedly conspired with the group of Bonifacio Sumbilla and Aderito Yujuico in trying to control the Stradcom building on Dec. 9, 2010.

Quiambao submitted to the panel, led by Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, surveillance camera footage showing Torres entering the Stradcom building with Sumbilla and Yujuico and talking with them for several minutes while they were at the second floor.

He said this disproves Torres’ earlier claim that she did not know Sumbilla and that she was not aware that he was with her when she entered the Stradcom building.

Stradcom vice president Vince Dizon said an official report from the LTO’s security agency, Urduja Security Services Inc., on the takeover incident stated that Torres allegedly instructed guards the night before the incident “not to join in the tension between the security agencies Butler Security Agency and the incoming Unilateral Security Agency for takeover of Stradcom compound.”

The report also stated that Torres’ head executive assistant, Menelia Mortel, allegedly called a meeting the day before the incident to instruct the security guards “not to join the problem of Stradcom.”

Dizon said the report “provides incontrovertible evidence” that Torres and Mortel “knew that something was going to happen on Dec. 9, 2010. That Unilateral Security Agency was going to go to the Stradcom building on Dec. 9, 2010 and attempt to takeover the Stradcom premises.”

He said they are hopeful the DOJ probe panel would seriously consider the evidence they submitted against Torres and Mortel.

Torres, Sumbilla and Yujuico did not attend yesterday’s hearing. They sent letters to Baraan that they have prior commitments. The panel set the next hearing this Friday, when Torres and Sumbilla are expected to air their side.

Torres has earlier denied allegations that she was favoring one of the parties in Stradcom’s internal row. The LTO headquarter’s operations were halted for seven hours during the takeover, causing technical problems in LTO offices nationwide and inconveniencing motorists transacting business with the agency at the time.

The probe was ordered by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who wanted to know who should be held liable for the incident. The panel has 30 days to submit a report.