THE Land Transportation Office (LTO) is asking the government to take over in handling the agency’s IT system in order to fast track the agency’s digitalization.
According to LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor Mendoza II, government takeover of the agency’s IT system will help it provide faster and better services to its clients.
The request is also in line with the marching order of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to Department of Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista to digitalize all government transactions as part of giving faster and convenient services to Filipinos.
Mendoza said once the LTO takes over the reins of the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS), it will be able to expedite all the technical issues raised by the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
The LTO is pushing for full digital transactions before the end of November this year.
“Our IT experts are capable of operating and maintaining the system. In fact, sila po ang talagang nagtrabaho at patuloy na nagta-trabaho para ayusin ang sistema para maging madali at komportable sa ating mga end-users, and eventually maging fully utilized na ang ating online platform,” said Mendoza.
For instance, the driver’s license issuance is now 100 percent under LTMS while the renewal of motor vehicle registration is now at 95 percent under LTMS system from 70 percent when he assumed the top LTO post late July this year.
The focus right now, he said, is to further improve the registration of newly registered units or NRUs which is currently at 60 percent under the LTMS system.
“Magiging mas madali ang pag-maintain ng system at mas makakatipid ang gobyerno na maayos ang lahat ng deficiencies na nakita ng DICT because we are moving towards 100-percent utilization of the computer system na nabayaran ng goyerno ng mahigit P3 billion,” said Mendoza.
“Kayang-kaya nating i-take over ito. In fact, this was the reason why I created a Technical Working Group and right now, we are in the final phase of review and assessment for full implementation by next month,” said Mendoza.
The assessment and evaluation of the DICT disclosed 14 deficiencies in the LTMS system and 166 enhancements are needed to further improve the system.
Mendoza also belied the statement attributed to the representative of the Dermalog that LTO personnel have been resisting the use of LTMS.
“This is not true, Nakita ko mismo ang ginagawa ng ating mga frontline employees so it is unfair to issue inaccurate statements like that,” said Mendoza.
The LTO is seeking a full takeover of the IT system, which the government contracted with German firm Dermalog to handle all the transactions in the agency back in 2019.
(PHOTO CREDIT: LTO Facebook page)