DOTC: Lessons have been learned from Stradcom row

The Department of Transportation and Communications on Saturday assured motorists there will be no repeat of an internal standoff that disrupted the Land Transportation Office’s operations last Thursday. DOTC spokesman Dante Velasco said the department has already placed under high security its facilities to avoid such problems to happen in the future. A dispute within Stradcom Corp., the Information Technology (IT) service provider of the DOTC, paralyzed the agency’s operations for hours. “Tinitiyak natin na wala nang ganyang mangyayari (We are making sure incidents like this will not happen again)," Velasco said in an interview on dzBB radio. On Thursday, LTO operations were disrupted for at least six hours after armed men linked to one of at least two factions competing for ownership tried to force their way inside Stradcom’s office inside the LTO compound in Quezon City. Velasco noted the standoff disrupted LTO operations as the armed men refused to let Stradcom technicians handling the LTO’s computerized database enter the area and do their work. Because of the standoff, the LTO’s offices nationwide were knocked offline until in the afternoon, inconveniencing motorists seeking to transact with the agency. “High-security ang facility na yan. Lalong hihigpitan ang security measures diyan, ang lalabas at papasok diyan guguwardyahan (It should have been considered a high-security facility. So now we have beefed up our security measures there. All incoming and outgoing personnel will be secured)," Velasco said. On the other hand, Velasco said the DOTC has formed a legal panel to review the incident. He said Stradcom’s contract with DOTC may be cut if there is basis to do so. Stradcom’s contract to provide the LTO with information technology services will last until 2013, he noted. “We will be fair about this. We have formed a legal panel to see the security gaps. If we find a serious lack of competence or will to manage, we are not powerless to do something," he said. — LBG, GMANews.TV