By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz
A member of the House Committee on Transportation on Tuesday called on the panel to demand accountability and even recommend charges against officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) involved in the alleged rigging of contracts in the Motor Vehicle License Plate Standardization Program (MVLPSP).
Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon, in House Resolution No. 2241, called on the Transport Committee to investigate the matter.
Ridon said that the 10-page Notice of Disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit (COA) last June 13 ordered the DOTC and LTO to cease any further transactions with the joint venture of Power Plates Development Concepts, Inc. and J. Knieriem B.V. Goes (PPI-JKG) regarding the supply and delivery of license plates for the MVLPSP.
In the said notice, the lawmaker said that COA stated that the transaction was irregular and illegal as it violated RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
According to Ridon, COA also revealed that there were irregularities with the awarding of the project to the PPI-JKG consortium.
For one, LTO violated the law when it decided to open bidding for a P3.8 billion project in 2013 when the 2013 GAA only allocated P187 million for the said project. It was only in 2014 when the GAA actually appropriated funds for the plate program, Ridon said.
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