MANILA — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) vowed Wednesday to implement the full utilization of the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) on or before August 30, 2023.
The LTMS is considered a cornerstone of LTO’s five-year IT modernization program to make the agency more efficient and give its clients the convenience of online service.
The system's portal is a one-stop online shop that seeks to integrate all LTO services in a single contact-less database system and digital platform.
LTO Chief Jose Art Tugade made the commitment before the House Committee on Transportation, saying the agency's new information technology systems provider Dermalog has completed the deliverables under the terms of reference, but some systems, including that for initial registration of motor vehicles, have yet to be fully utilized.
LTO said it is currently pilot-testing the initial registration system at three sites, but it is expected to be utilized by all 51 LTO sites by July 30.
When asked by Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera on whether the issue on internet connectivity has been addressed, Tugade answered in the affiramtive and said they "will make sure that there will not be any excuses" to not use the LTMS system.
The LTO admitted that historical data of its clients’ transactions have yet to be fully turned over by the agency’s previous IT service provider, Stradcom.
“Because historical data is missing, hindi nakikita ‘yung hit ng sasakyan, kung may atraso sa daan ‘yung sasakyan before ma-register. That’s why dumadaan pa muna sa dating database bago pumunta sa bago," Herrera said.
"When will we now see that this will not happen, para hindi naaabala 'yung ating riding public?” Herrera added.
The lawmaker also said that LTO should address the issue of bottlenecking in their services as renewing documents seems to go through a lot of processes.
“Mag-ri-renew ako ng license, ’yung pupuntahan ko na LTO office has to call the main office and ask, 'Ito bang driver na ito may hit? Mayroon ba siyang past penalties?' and all that. They will have to call personally the one in charge in the LTO before makapag-renew ng lisensya ang isang tao... E kung wala 'yung tao doon sa chair niya? Doon nagkakaroon ng bottleneck… hindi ba pwedeng unahin natin 'yun?” she urged.
The committee directed Stradcom to transfer all relevant data to the government through the the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Stradcom told the panel that it would need 7 months to complete the database transfer but the DICT insisted that 60 days should be enough.
Meanwhile, the panel instructed the two parties to coordinate on the timeline.
“Stradcom, regardless of any letter that you are requiring, you are hereby directed by this committee to transfer the database lock, stock and barrel to DICT and LTO,” panel Chairperson Rep. Romeo Acop said.
The government still owes Stradcom more than P5 billion.