File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for failing to deliver over 8.12 million license plates worth P2.1 billion to vehicle owners.
This, the COA said in its 2020 audit report, “deprived the registrants of their right to receive the plates they paid for and affected the efficient apprehension of traffic violators.”
In 2014, the DOTr signed a contract with the PPI-JKG to produce 5,236,439 pairs of motor vehicle plates and 9,968,017 pieces of motorcycle plates, costing P1.989 billion and P1.196 billion, respectively, under the Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) Motor Vehicle License Plate Standardization Program (MVLPSP).
The company was supposed to supply the LTO with license plates from 2013 to 2017 but the project was implemented only in 2014 due to budget constraints. However, the PPI-JKG failed to deliver 4.065 million plates for motor vehicles and 7.213 million motorcycle plates.
As a result, a notice of disallowance (ND) for the advance payment made was issued.
In Jul. 2017, the LTO proceeded with the procurement of license plates for its requirements for Jul. 2016 to Dec. 2017 pending the appeal of the ND.
Delays
In Dec. 2017, a contract was awarded to Trojan JV worth P978.8 million to produce 775,000 pairs of motor vehicle plates and 1.7 million motorcycle plates.
In Jul. 2018, the ND on the MVLPSP was lifted. The COA said that “from the time of the implementation of the MVLPSP, several delays in procurements were noted due to legal impediments and contract termination, changes in motorcycle plates’ specifications, among others.”
It recommended to the DOTr the fast-tracking of the production backlog in the existing contracts and the immediate release of plates to vehicle registrants.
The DOTr said that as of Jun. 7 this year, 790,725 pairs of replacement plates for motor vehicles had been delivered to the district offices for distribution.