By Perfecto T. Raymundo, Jr.
QUEZON CITY – Transport and IT experts on Thursday (June 5) tackled critical issues concerning about what’s happening with the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
During the Pandesal Forum at Kamuning Bakery Café on Thursday (June 5) hosted by Wilson Lee Flores, Bernard Yu, Veteran IT Practitioner & Technology Expert, said that they will discuss the developments in the past few and weeks and what’s happening in the current situation.
Yu was fired by the LTO as a consultant not by Dermalogue, from November 2020 to September 2022, and Asec. Galvante extended his term.
He only worked with Dermalogue from November 2023 to March 2024. When he joined the LTO, he had some questions about the MIS.
Yu was supposed to help Asec. Edgar Galvante to roll out the PHP8-billion project and to implement it to the best of his ability no matter what.
“I think the new Secretary (Vince Dizon) does not know the problem. I agree with your statement. You’re right the LTO is a broken system. It’s half of the problem,” Yu said.
Yu added that it appears in the media that it’s a conflict between the Dermalogue and Stradcom, however, he said it’s not a “fight between two giants”.
“We should all be concerned. You need a leader who needs to fix this. The COA (Commission on Audit) has already accepted it. Let’s implement it.,” Yu said.
Yu had been in the IT industry for 40 years already.
According to Yu, for a successful project, there should be operation efficiency and fraud prevention. Digitalization has to go hand in hand with modernization with customer satisfaction in mind. The measure of success is not digitalization per se.
Stradcom started in 2001 as build own operate which expired in 2013 and extended month by month. In 2016, there was a phaseout agreement where the LTO stated that “we are about to replace you, please support the new network.”
The responsibility of Stradcom was for 228 offices or sites which was finished in 2018. The total budget for digitalization was PhP8 Billion, Php3 Billion of which was awarded to Dermalogue, a German company, to roll out to only 24 pilot sites.
The IT Department of LTO was responsible for the PhP5 Billion.
“Online registration is now available with Dermalogue, but not with Stradcom,” Yu said.
Yu added that never in his 40 years in the IT industry, that there is a third party introduced aside from Stradcom and Dermalogue, when the Dermalogue was ordered to facilitate the new network.
“If there’s a problem, the head of the agency (LTO) should be blamed and not Dermalogue,” he added.
“The IT System of the LTO is large and complex. You have to have a good IT,” Yu said.
“The MTMS of Stradcom for driver’s license has been operating for four years already. The MIS was 96% finished when I left the LTO. New improvements needed. Many procedural changes needed,” Yu added.
“Stradcom had 9 databases. It was never-ending for as long as Stradcom has data, it will not end,” he said.
According to Yu, there were alleged persistent performance issues and unresolved service requests were noted in 2023, but until now, they have not been resolved by the LTO.
On Nov. 9, 2023, the COA issued a memorandum asking then LTO Asec. Tugade to produce the memorandum he issued concerning the PHP100 “computer fee” with Dermalogue. Another COA memorandum was issued in December 2023 for the same matter.
In March 2025, the COA noted that the MTMS was not fully implemented. It creates public confusion.
In March 2025, Rappler reported that Mugati vehicles were registered with Stradcom.
“Unworthy and unauthorized road vehicles were being registered with Stradcom because of the ‘computer fee’,” Yu said.
“On road worthiness, you should not compromise because road worthiness should not be compromised. I’m giving the LTO Chief a “Failed” grade,” he added.
“It doesn’t need to be an IT expert. The LTO Chief should argue with his men,” Yu said.
He asked President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. that government officials should not be addressed as “Asec.” but “Public Servants”.
Yu described DOTR Secretary Vince Dizon as “an epitome (perfect example) of a good public servant”.
Aida Yuvienco, former Director of MIS Service of DICT, said that in 2020, during the pandemic, the LTO Chief asked DICT Secretary Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan to help the LTO.
Yuvienco was assigned to study the LTO system and the provider of the system, the Dermalogue. The Dermalogue for 24 sites of the LTO, which was finished even before the pandemic, and they were paid for that.
“We are already in the maintenance of the system which was already being implemented, though, we know that the system was not perfect,” Yuvienco said.
She added that all the systems for the drivers – the minimum viable product – cannot anymore be implemented. “We have to implement a new system where additional features will have to be implemented,” Yuvienco said.
The MIS is a complete integrated system. All the systems were seamlessly integrated.
There was a five-year maintenance agreement with Dermalogue and they can implement some changes. It’s only the system in the government that caters to four core functions of an agency such as registration, inspection, among others.
Yuvienco was proud to have been a part of the Dermalogue project.
“The digital leadership is very critical. It’s not cheap for digital transformation – Php3.3 Billion such as fingerprint. Very fair price over five years. Securing our data is not cheap. We have to have the proper data, the proper software,” Yuvienco said.
“The digital leadership, the culture and the budget are absent,” she added.
“Integrity and digital knowledge. He must be able to control road officers,” Yuvienco urged for the next LTO Chief.
The driver’s registration module was implemented 100%. No fixers needed to redeem the license. The revenue collection is also 100% implemented.
Dermalogue has made 39 permutations to compute the MVUC and there’s no need to override the MVUC. The MVIRS was already computerized.
The online registration and the online payment were implemented.
In terms of computerization, modernization, he would give a grade of “2” to the LTO Chief Asec. Vigor Mendoza II.
Rene S. Santiago, renowned Transport Development Expert, said that the first Secretary of Department of Transportation was Sec. Jose P. Dans. The pioneer of the LTO was the Board of Transportation (BOT) and the Bureau of Land Transportation (BLT).
Santiago said that the LTO driver’s licensing was the first to be implemented. The sticker on the car plate, the problem of which happened in 2017, 2018.
During the time of DOTR Secretary Tugade, the Stradcom was out and Dermalogue came in as it won in the bidding.
Santiago said that during the Stradcom system, he had to wait for three hours to get his registration papers. He added that almost everything can be done by computer.
“It’s not a PPP (Public Private Partnership) because the government procured the system,” Santiago said.
“Even without the digital, was the problem on vehicle registration resolved?” he asked.
“Because of the digital age, the next LTO Chief should not be ‘ignoramous’ about IT. Honesty, administrative and management skills must be the qualities of the LTO Chief,” Santiago said.
Also present during the forum were Buddy Lavidad, president of Bukluran ng mga Manggagawa sa Seguro, slammed the PHP140 – PHP80 for PCI, and PHP60 for insurance — which they will have to collect from the drivers, but they do not know how it will be collected from them.
Representatives from the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) were also present. ###
