DOJ to probe Stradcom office takeover, corporate row

In response to the request of the Department of Transportation and Communications, the Justice Department is set to look into an information technology (IT) contractor's corporate dispute that led to the disruption of the Land Transportation Office's operations last December. At a news briefing on Thursday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she has created a fact-finding team to look into the Dec. 9, 2010 incident at the Stradcom office at the LTO compound in Quezon City. The dispute among Stradcom's contending groups paralyzed LTO operations for hours as armed men from one of the groups took over the office. "On request of DOTC Sec. Jose de Jesus, the DOJ is investigating that part to find out exactly what happened, what was the real cause and the culpability of all those involved... Our mandate is to find out whether certain people would be made liable or would be held accountable for that disruptive incident," she said. De Lima added that there is also a complaint against LTO head Virginia Torres, who allegedly showed favoritism to one of the parties in Stradcom's internal row. Torres had repeatedly denied the accusations. Last December 9, LTO operations were paralyzed for at least six hours after armed men linked to one of the factions competing for ownership tried to force their way inside Stradcom’s office. The armed men supposedly 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. — Sophia Dedace/RSJ, GMANews.TV