Yes, Virginia is back, set to clear her name

“There has been a lot of speculation that I would resign. Well, I am here now,” Virginia Torres told reporters at a press briefing.

The head of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) returned on Tuesday to her post after a 60-day leave prompted by her involvement in factional fighting for control of Stradcom Corp., the LTO’s information technology provider.

Torres, reportedly a shooting buddy of President Aquino, has been under pressure from various sectors to step down in order to save him from further criticism. But she said doing so would be “an insult to the government.”

She also said she welcomed the appointment of former Sen. Manuel Roxas as the new transportation secretary starting the end of June.

Roxas, Mr. Aquino’s defeated running mate in the 2010 presidential election, will replace Jose de Jesus, an old friend of the Aquinos who resigned earlier this month.

The resignation of De Jesus has been linked to Torres’ feud with Stradcom, which operates the LTO’s database of licenses and vehicle registrations.

Corporate dispute

Torres went on a 2-month leave at the request of the President.

A fact-finding committee formed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had earlier recommended Torres’ suspension to make way for an inquiry into her involvement in the corporate dispute at Stradcom.

The dispute came to a head in December last year when a group led by businessman Bonifacio Sumbilla, who claimed to be the new head of Stradcom, attempted to take over its operations in Quezon City.

Stradcom, led by chair Cesar Quiambao, accused Torres of siding with the Sumbilla faction.

De Jesus had earlier asked the President to “discipline” Torres for her purported bias for the Sumbilla group.

Defies DoTC order

De Jesus also criticized Torres for defying an order from the Department of Transportation and Communications to remit payments of more than P1 billion to Stradcom.

Torres has withheld these payments representing fees from consumers, keeping the funds in escrow, due to the corporate dispute.

Welcomes probe

Mr. Aquino is said to have ignored De Jesus’ request that Torres be disciplined. He also allegedly blocked a deeper probe of her involvement in the Stradcom dispute.

Opposition lawmakers have filed a resolution to investigate Torres and other friends of the President in the government who are accused of corruption and questionable behavior.

“I welcome all these investigations against me,” Torres said at the press briefing, adding that the inquiries would give her the chance to clear her name.

Torres also said Stradcom had threatened to shut down its operations if the payments were not handed over by the LTO.

“What people do not know is that Stradcom threatened us that things would go back to manual operations,” she said.

In the event of a shutdown by Stradcom, she said, the LTO’s main contingency plan would be to revert to manual operations.

“We are used to manual,” she said.

But Stradcom spokesperson Margaux Salcedo denied this. “If there was any threat that was made to go to manual operations, it was by Torres,” she said.

Stradcom’s contract with the LTO expires in 2013. Torres said finding a replacement would be on top of her agenda.

“We are reviewing Stradcom’s outgoing contract and we want to see if they were able to meet all their commitments,” she said.

Torres also said she intended to “correct” a number of provisions that had purportedly allowed Stradcom to make excessive profits at the expense of consumers. She declined to elaborate.

She said she would also beef up the LTO’s corps of traffic enforcers in line with interagency efforts to make roads safer for both motorists and pedestrians.

Nothing illegal

In a news briefing at the Department of Justice (DoJ), De Lima said there was nothing illegal in Torres’ return to her post at the LTO.

“There is really no legal impediment to her coming back because there is no action yet on the [fact-finding committee’s] recommendation. There’s no reason for me to insist,” she said.

But De Lima took exception to Torres’ comment in a television interview, where the LTO chief expressed annoyance at the DoJ committee’s findings implicating her in the attempted takeover of the Stradcom office on Dec. 9, 2010.

“It’s not our problem if our recommendation was not acceptable to her,” the justice secretary said. With a report from Marlon Ramos