PNoy gives embattled Torres credit

President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday gave credit to embattled Land Transportation Office chief Virginia Torres for exposing corruption at the agency. Malacañang’s chief legal counsel, Eduardo de Mesa, is now reviewing recommendations by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to impose sanctions against Torres, the President said. The DOJ wants Torres dismissed for her alleged involvement in the disruption of LTO operations that stemmed from an intra-corporate dispute at Stradcom, the agency’s information technology services provider. Aquino defended Torres, saying she brought to his attention the level of service the public was getting from Stradcom, which the LTO pays P1.3 billion a year although its services should be at no cost to the government. The Stradcom documents Torres surrendered to the President showed that the firm is unable to properly encode vehicle registration data, Aquino said. “Amongst the data na ibinigay sa akin was the certificate of registration by [a] bus, and I have copies in my office that I kept just to remind me — that’s when Stradcom first got my attention," the President said. “‘Yung pinadalang data ang nakalagay — kasi parang… [captured] from the screen — engine displacement: 0; size of tires (front): 0; size of tires (rear): 0. So, binalik ko sa kanila at sabi ko, ‘yung nag-encode nito, ‘yung nagbabasa nito, ‘yung lahat ng involved sa process, ano ba namang klaseng data ‘to? It’s all zero," Aquino said. Aquino not satisfied with correction He demanded for a correction, but was not satisfied with what was given back to him, according to the President. “On the second letter, it was size of tires (front) was 2 centimeters; size of tires (rear): 4 centimeters. As you know, 2 centimeters is less than one inch and there is no bus that will have a one inch tire, okay? That was the second letter," he said. “The third letter, at pinoint out ko naman, ano ba ‘tong data na binibigay n’yo? On the third, nakalagay doon sa engine displacement: number of tires (front)-2; number of tires (rear)-4. Ayun medyo may sense na," he said. “Pero they’ve had that contract for, I think, 10 years, eh. And imagine collecting P1.3-B and this is the service that people get. Tama ba ‘yan? And I have to credit Asec. Torres for, you know, showing that to me personally," Aquino said. Aquino also heaped praises on Torres for initiating a time and motion analysis of the capacity of motor vehicle emission testing centers. He said that study showed the testing center can only handle up to 80 units a day. Aquino concludes that the 300 to 600 vehicles the testing centers report clearly involve records that underwent some “hocus-pocus." He also credits Torres for contributing to an improvement in air pollution levels. “’Yung polusyon na kagaya ng kinukwento ko sa inyo dati, ‘nung dinatnan ko, June 2010, 166 micrograms of total suspended [particles] per cubic meter. ‘Yung UN standard is 90, so halos doble. In other words, ang dumi ng hangin natin. ‘Nung February, it was reduced to 120 from 166 and how was that done?" he said. On Tuesday, Torres returned to work after a two-month leave of absence upon Aquino’s request. — ELR/VS, GMA News