Land Transportation Office chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)
MANILA – Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II on Friday denied allegations of corruption following the filing of two separate cases against him by a transport group before the Office of the Ombudsman.
Mendoza said these were “the very same issues” that he had addressed since his appointment at the LTO back in July.
“On digitalization, for instance, we have already successfully consolidated all the online transactions using the LTMS (Land Transportation Management System), which means the transactions now are more convenient and hassle-free for all our clients. And this was done in just four months after I assumed office,” he said in a statement.
For the LTO’s license plates backlog, he said the agency’s plate-making facility is now producing around one million metal plates a month.
“Your LTO is on the right track of addressing the millions of backlogs in the license plates,” he said.
However, he said the cases filed by the members of the Federated Land Transport Organizations of the Philippines (FELTOP) before the Ombudsman on Nov. 30 is their right in a democratic country, but proving the allegation “is another matter.”
“I respect and welcome the filing of these two cases because this will be a good opportunity and a proper forum on my part to prove that the allegations are totally baseless and absurd -- and eventually expose the real motive behind this action,” he said.
On Thursday, FELTOP filed two separate cases against Mendoza for the agency’s digitalization of services and on the backlog of license plates.
The group alleged that while the LTO’s new LTMS was being implemented in most places, their old LTO-IT system was still being used by some LTO offices and was charging customers PHP169.09 for a “computer fee,” compared to the free LTMS.
“Mendoza, a public official, acted in ‘evident bad faith’ by issuing these memorandums and re-implementing the use of LTO-IT, as motorists had to pay the computer fee,” the complaint read. (PNA)
