Casiño files resolution to investigate RFID project,
urges motorists not to pay the RFID fee
urges motorists not to pay the RFID fee
Bayan Muna party list representative Teddy Casiño is set to file a resolution today (September 30) for the House Committee on Transportation to investigate the Land Transportation Office's P2.6 billion radio frequency identification (RFID) project, saying that the House has the duty and oversight powers to look into the legality of fees and charges being imposed on citizens.
At the same time, the lawmaker urged vehicle owners not to pay the P350 RFID tag fee to be imposed starting tomorrow, Oct. 1 or at least to delay the registration of their vehicles pending the filing later this week of a complaint in court preventing the LTO from implementing the project.
"Since vehicle owners have the whole month to register their vehicles, I think it would be better for them to delay the registration of their vehicles pending the results of the court case and the congressional inquiry," he said.
Casiño reiterated his appeal to the LTO to suspend the implementation of the RFID project "until all issues have been settled."
In a resolution to be co-authored by representatives Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza, the party list lawmakers want Congress to look into the following issues:
1. The RFID did not undergo proper public hearings as required by law;
2. It was packaged as a mere "enhancement" of the existing contract between LTO and Stradcom Corporation and thus did not undergo public bidding;
3. The cost of the RFID tag is exorbitant;
4. Contractor Stradcom has no authority to import and operate RFID technology;
5. The RFID tags threaten the right to privacy of citizens;
"Why the apparent swiftness in the implementation of the RFID project? Why is DOTC-LTO cutting corners? And why the high price for the stickers? These are some of the questions Congress should ask," said Casiño.###
Casiño, lawyers to halt LTO’s RFID tagging of vehicles
(Sept. 24) Congressman Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna partylist today said he and the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) would move swiftly to effect a temporary restraining order (TRO) and start a Congressional inquiry on the Land Transportation Office (LTO) plan to tag all motor vehicles with radio frequency identification (RFID) stickers.
“We find the LTO tagging scheme suspicious. First, it seems that this plan to tag vehicles with RFID materialized only this year. Can this be another midnight deal that members of the Arroyo administration have cooked up in preparation for 2010? Why were there no public hearings? And more importantly, why was there no public bidding for this multi-billion peso project?” Casiño asked.
"The memorandum circulars of both the DOTC and LTO show that this project was approved by DOTC only last May as a mere enhancement of the existing LTO IT Project exclusively cornered by the firm STRADCOM. Apparently no bidding was done for this, as it was a mere proposal by STRADCOM approved by the DOTC and implemented by the LTO," said the progressive lawmaker.
"The project was not even in the LTOs programs and plans for 2009, as attested to in their website," he added, saying the LTO should first provide the public all the details pertaining to the project. He said he was awaiting a copy of the memorandum of agreement between LTO and STRADCOM on the project.
“Secondly, the tagging appears to be overpriced at P350 when RFID chips are already inexpensive, costing 20 cents on the average or around P10-15 only. There are almost six million motorized vehicles registered with the LTO as of December 2008. If motorists pay the one-time tagging fee of P350 when they register their vehicles starting next month, the LTO will be able to collect more than P2 billion (approximately P2,061,945,200) upon registration,” Casiño said.
“Thirdly, in using RFID technology, we should study its implications on the people’s Right to Privacy, as we fear that this tagging may be used by government operatives for surveillance and attacks on private citizens and critics of the administration. We also want to know why the contract for this project was pegged for a duration of 10 years,” Casiño adds.
“Although the RFID scheme appears to promise solutions to the traffic and pollution problems that can otherwise be solved by an efficient transportation department, we highly suspect this deceptive, Orwellian, and profit-making scheme to be detrimental to public interest. At this point, the LTO’s RFID tagging must be stopped,” concludes Casiño. ###
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