LTO anti-corruption tool

What started out as the Land Transportation Office’s act of compliance has turned out to be a very effective tool against corruption and red tape that has received support from the private sector.

When LTO chief Asec. Ed Galvante sent out instructions to his team at the LTO to find ways and means to comply with the law on Ease of Doing Business, they all thought that they were simply trying to computerize and speed up transactions at offices of the LTO in Metro Manila. That’s what happened when the NCR-LTO entered into a memorandum of agreement with the LandBank of the Philippines to set up an on-line payment system in selected offices in Metro Manila.

Many car dealers appreciated the fact that they no longer had to take risks sending messengers with hundreds of thousands to millions of pesos used for bulk payments for new car registrations. The system also fast tracked transactions between dealers and the LandBank without having to go to the LTO for payments. But what I learned from a number of car dealers is that the online payment system is very much appreciated by most of their finance officers because it has drastically reduced the number of “UN-RECEIPTED” requests for disbursements from liaison officers. In other words, liaison officers can no longer claim they had to pay a bribe and actually claim reimbursement at their office. What the on-line transaction has done is to make all official financial transactions with the LTO very transparent and specific, thereby removing opportunities for bribery such as the mandatory P500 that used to be collected or paid for every new car registry. It also removes bribery in terms of choice “endings” on car plates etc.

So far, Asec Galvante has kept the online payment program within Metro Manila for further evaluation. But many provincial dealers and finance officers are hoping that Asec Galvante or DOTR Secretary Art Tugade would make the program mandatory nationwide not only in the interest of Ease of Doing Business compliance but to further eradicate or shut down the remaining windows of opportunities for corruption in the industry’s transactions with the LTO. The common argument or excuse in certain regions is that they are not ready or are technically challenged. This of course is a really stupid and crooked excuse because if the LandBank can operate their branches as far as Ipil, Zamboanga and provide electronic online services, ATMs etc., there is no reason why regional LTO offices can’t do likewise. In fact the LandBank could probably help them set up and run online payment programs just like those in Metro Manila. Let’s all help encourage the LTO to make the program nationwide and shutdown windows of corruption. Once again congratulations to the LTO, Asec Galvante and of course Secretary Art Tugade.

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While authorities are not omnipresent and can’t know where corruption takes place in real time, it is praiseworthy if they act swiftly and with extreme prejudice against corruption. This is what the Bureau of Immigration did after learning from Senator Joel Villanueva that a group of insiders at the Bureau of Immigration office at SM AURA were giving out or fast tracking “Special work permits” for as little as P5, 000! My informant told me that many of those special permits went out to Chinese nationals and that the BI immediately put the head of the unit on “floating status” and by January, the entire staff all the way to security guards were removed and replaced.

A foreign gentleman even sent us a photo of stacks of files that were removed from SM AURA BI Office and are currently undergoing close scrutiny at the Immigration head office in Intramuros. All that is great but we also need to inform bureau officials that their clients, particularly non-Chinese expats, have been chatting online and expressing concern over three-month delays of applications particularly 9G and special permits that were filed at the SM AURA office. Either the Bureau comes out with more updates, information related to the SM AURA BI operations or they do double time to separate the guilty from the innocent. Nonetheless, congratulations to Senator Villanueva and the Bureau of Immigration for hauling ass and files and ending the corruption because SM AURA did have a good reputation among foreigners as far as convenience and proximity is concerned.

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We invited representatives of Manila Water and Maynilad water companies to speak on AGENDA (Cignal TV- Ch. 8 /250) and it was interesting to learn that both companies are actually caught between a rock and a hard place as they are being pressured to fast track the installation and construction of both “sewage pipes” and sewage treatment facilities. If the companies are forced to build faster than their five-year plans specify, the costs would be horrendous (P1.6 billion each plant) and this would eventually have to be paid for by consumers.

The problem is neither companies have the legal right or police power to impose or require customers to pay P9,000 to connect their septic tanks to the sewage lines and they also cannot impose a “must connect” policy or not get water service because the law requires both companies to service all households with water connection. The local government units have the political and legal means but generally leave the added work to private concessionaires. Then there is the problem of digging five-meter-deep trenches in order to layout sewage pipes that need to be deep in the ground to prevent breakage and contamination.

Ironically while politicians and LGUs are attempting to use the two water companies as the whipping boy for the contamination of Manila Bay, none of them openly point at the thousands if not millions of squatters that local officials have permitted to occupy riversides, esteros etc. all of whom contribute more human waste. Of course they also contribute political votes, draw humanitarian funding all of which benefit  districts and constituencies of politicians. Remember: When you point a finger at someone, the other four points back at you.

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