SC strikes down LTO’s RFID project

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has declared illegal the radio frequency identification (RFID) project of the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

In a 30-page decision penned by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, the high court ordered the LTO to refund P29,894,200 it collected from car owners during the implementation of the project in 2009.

The SC stopped the project in January 2010.

The high tribunal held that the RFID project was illegal due to lack of public bidding.

Under the plan, each vehicle would be required to have stickers containing a microchip upon registration or renewal of registration for P350.

The chip will contain information about the vehicle and its owner.

The SC ruled that the project should have undergone public bidding pursuant to Section 5 of the Build-Operate-Transfer Law.

The LTO signed a P2.45-billion deal with Stradcom Corp. for the RFID project in June 2009.

In December 2009, three party-list groups and a transport organization filed a petition before the SC questioning the LTO project.

The petitioners – former Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna, Liza Maza of Gabriela party-list, Joel Maglungsod of Anakpawis and secretary general George San Mateo of the Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Nationwide – said the project did not undergo review by the National Economic and Development Authority.