Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 22) — A lawmaker is asking the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the issuance of driver’s licenses with five-year validity.
ACTS-OFW Rep. Aniceto Bertiz III petitioned the high court on Wednesday to issue a temporary restraining order while it reviews a ₱829.6-million driver’s license deal that he claims is unconstitutional.
He said the executive branch, including respondents Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade and Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, committed grave abuse of discretion for entering into an anomalous deal in December 2016.
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) started issuing five-year driver’s licenses in August 2017.
Read: LTO to start releasing driver’s licenses with 5-year validity
Earlier that month, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 10930, which extends the validity of driver’s licenses from three to five years.
Read: Duterte signs law extending driver’s license validity to 5 years
Bertiz said the bidding for the “LTO-Driver’s License Project with Five-Year Validity for CY 2017” was “rigged and manipulated” because the contract was issued in April 2017 to the highest bidder, DERMALOG-NETTIX-CFP joint venture.
He added that the winning bid was just 0.75 percent lower than the project’s ₱836 million approved budget, which meant it had “the palapable and indelible stamp of the commission of a fraudulent scheme to plunder the government coffers.”
The other two bidders, who Bertiz said were unlawfully disqualified, were:
Banner Plasticard Inc. and PCCW Solutions Philippines, Inc. (₱750 million)
Kolonwel and PT Pura (₱814.3 million)
Bertiz also argued the ₱686 million in the 2016 budget for the “Issuance of driver’s license and permit” did not apply to the five-year license deal.
“In the absence of a specific and particular item of appropriation for the ‘Production of driver’s Licenses’ in the (2016 budget), Congress evidently and without nary a doubt deliberately determined and intended not to appropriate any public money for the procurement of Driver’s License Cards,” he said.
Bertiz added even if the item in the 2016 budget were meant for the five-year licenses, it would not have been enough to fund the contract.
LTO Chief Edgar Galvante told CNN Philippines he cannot comment on the petition as he has yet to receive a copy.
