Ducky Paredes

 

 

“Stradcom Corporation has successfully automated and networked close to 300 LTO offices nationwide.  This has resulted a dramatic improvement in the services of the LTO to the motoring public.”

 

 

 

by Ducky Paredes

 

Stradcom Corporation is presently under scrutiny because of its suspended RFID project which would install magnetic strips in our vehicles, the easier to identify them in the event they are stolen or if it has been tagged for a traffic violation that is unpaid or, if it is masquerading as a public utility vehicle without having the proper papers, among others.

But, has Stradcom been bad for the country?  It’s critics say so. In fact, they want the RFID project stopped since this would only increase Stradcom’s dealings with the government and make more money for Stradcom. Of course, it will; but is this a bad thing or has the government benefitted from the partnership? In reality, Stradcom has implemented the most successful computerization project of the government – the computerization of vehicle registration and driver licensing. The $80 million project was developed and implemented by Stradcom at no cost for the national government under the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) Law.

This means that both the government and the public have greatly benefited from computerization without any cost to the national government.  Do you know that Stradcom pays for even the electricity of the LTO offices nationwide?

Stradcom Corporation has successfully automated and networked close to 300 LTO offices nationwide.  This has resulted a dramatic improvement in the services of the LTO to the motoring public.

Comparing how things were before and how they are now, remember when we had to register our vehicles and/or renewed our licenses at the LTO office where the car was first registered or where we received our original drivers’ license?  Now, we can renew our car registration and/or our drivers’ licenses anywhere in the country. (Once, finding myself in Puerto Princesa – far away from where my original license was issued on my birthday week, I fell in line at the LTO office in Puerto and had my renewal within the hour.)

Driver license renewal used to take three to six months; it now takes only an hour or less and car registration is a quick one to two hours, instead of the previous two-day or more process.

Because of the success of the computerization project of Stradcom, the LTO’s revenues have increased dramatically by more than double. Because of the computerization, the LTO is the only Philippine government agency that is ISO:2001 Certified.

The LTO Computerization Project and Stradcom has earned numerous for the LTO international and local awards and citations: The Computerworld Global Honor’s Laureate 2008, Washington DC, the Philippine e-Government Award 2003, and a Grand Prize for Best Product and Service.

There is a criticism that its continued dealings with Stradcom are disadvantageous to government. On the contrary, the Commission on Audit (COA) en banc in its final decision of 2005 (COA 2005-001, January 24, 2005) categorically stated that the contract between Stradcom and LTO was not disadvantageous to the government.

This is only right. How can contracts that developed and set up a nationwide computer system without the government paying a single centavo, and without any government guarantee of payment be disadvantageous to government? Could the government have gotten a better deal elsewhere?

For investing billions of pesos in setting up the computer system, Stradcom is allowed by law to charge a reasonable fee to the motoring public. Stradcom won the bid for the primarily because it offered the lowest bid compared to the other bidder.  AMPI-FUJITSU’s bid would have charged P299 for Motor Vehicle Registration while the Stradcom bid was only P120.

As a pioneer company Stradcom was granted a tax holiday by the BOI until 2008.  But it has consistently paid all local taxes and duties and has been issued all the clearances from the BIR and the local government agencies.

Also, Stradcom is not making that much profit from the existing LTO contract. In its Financial Statements as audited by SGV and filed with the SEC, as of 2009, Stradcom realized a net return on its investment of only 5%, This is very reasonable since NEDA allows a rate of return of 20-25% on government projects undertaken by the private sector.

Stradcom’s capital expenditures as of December 2008 for the LTO Project had reached P4.026 billion. This is broken down into P3.8 billion for the IT System and P203 million for system upgrades. Stradcom spends P51 million per month, broken down as follows:

Support personnel P6 million; Telecommunications Network P5.3million; Power and utilities for LTO offices P2.6 million, Ink supply for LTO offices, P2 million, and System Maintenance, P3.5 million.

Stradcom gave LTO a good deal which is why I cannot see anything wrong with its getting the RFID contract. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the use of an RFID tag applied to anything for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.

Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a radio-frequency (RF) signal, and other specialized functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal.

There are generally three types of RFID tags: active RFID tags, which contain a battery and can transmit signals autonomously, passive RFID tags, which have no battery and require an external source to provoke signal transmission, and battery assisted passive (BAP) which require an external source to wake up but have significant higher forward link capability providing great read range.

It can be read even as the vehicle passes a checkpoint or when a passing vehicle with an RFID reader is close by. It can be read at tollgates and even by guards at gated subdivisions equipped with readers. All in all, the RFID would be a great tool for police work and for regulating public and private transportation. There is no good reason why we shouldn’t have it.

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We have a letter: “I am Filipino-American soldier in the US Army currently serving in Iraq on my second tour, I heard that some Operator from US Army Special Forces went on a rampage in the Philippines, when I saw it on your website, I did a little research.

“As a soldier in the US Army I have access to people’s profiles on our military only website: www.us.army.mil.

“Jason Aguilar Viler is/was an Infantryman (11 series); his rank is Specialist (E-4), he was never a Special Forces Operator, never was, never will be. SF Operators are SGT (E-5) and higher, their job identifier is 18 series, not 11(Infantry).

“Since his AKO account is still active, he is still actually supposed to be in active duty but, from the looks of it, he’s AWOL (Away With Out Leave). Please remove any claims that Jason Ivler is a Special Forces Operator, as was posted on your website. This just makes US Army SF soldiers look bad.” — Tony D.

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Tell that to Marlene and Jason, Tony. That Special Forces claim came from them. I’m not surprised that this is just one more lie. Thanks for the info.

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Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com

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hvp 12.14.09)

 

Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com