Ping De Jesus quits PNoy Student Council.

**Monseratto** · June 22nd, 2011 02:08 PM

Listened to PNoy press conference a while ago. It seems that he is convinced by Virgie that STRADCOM is a failure and the goverment should find a way out of its contract with the IT company. He explained that Virgie claimed that the IT company is overpaid, citing example like keeping incomplete info of a vehicle such as tire sizes (?) and cars that are totally wreck can still be registered with stolen parts(?). By denying STRADCOM of its payment, I think the goverment is just waiting for it to blink and stop operating. Then the goverment will do a NAIA 3 and take over the company, claiming national interest... So if you want to invest with this goverment, better think twice.

**niwde11** · June 22nd, 2011 02:30 PM

well pnoy will always believe on her, puno, et al. sino ba si stradcom para paniwalaan nya.
now re: overpaid of stradcom. there is an existing contarct ba? kung meron dapat di ba tapusin ang contract kahit disacvantegeous sa govt.
at kung yung gusto nya masusunod? pano lto? di nya ba alam na kahit ibigay sa ibang contractor e me transistion period na para di maabala continuity ng operation ng lto? now pano na to sa gagawin nya?

**Monseratto** · June 22nd, 2011 02:40 PM

There is a contract until 2013. However, the Philippines never keep to its contractual obligation. Note: the impasse on the ownership of STRADCOM only came out when Virgie became head of LTO. She is using this to deny STRADCOM of funds to operate.

MANILA, Philippines - Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres took a dig at Stradcom Corp. on her first day back at work yesterday, saying the company “threatened” her with a shutdown of its IT system that she tagged as “problematic.”

“There was a letter of threat (from Stradcom). If we refused to pay (our fees), they would shut down,” she said, maintaining that the payment was held back due to the “intra-corporate dispute” in the firm over who its real owner was.

Torres, who was forced to go on leave two months ago, was evasive in answering questions about her legal dispute with the IT company. Her staff limited questions posed by media.

Torres’ staff distributed a March 23, 2011 letter supposedly from Stradcom president Cezar Quiambao, where the company stated that the refusal of LTO to pay its IT services “constitutes a force majeure” with consequent effects on its operations of the facility.

“The now anticipated impairment in the normal nationwide operations of the IT facilities starting - at the earliest - by the end of the month, which can at worst mean the nonpayment of utilities and consequent disconnection of LTO sites, shall not or cannot give rise to a claim against Stradcom Corporation under the BOO Agreement,” the letter stated.

According to Torres, it was because of the letter that she issued a statement that the agency could go back to manual operations as a contingency measure if the system did shut down.

Sought for comment, Stradcom spokesperson Margaux Salcedo said: “There was never any threat from Stradcom Corporation to go back to manual operations. In fact, Stradcom has patiently continued its services for the past eight months in spite of the fact of unjust refusal to pay by the LTO chief. If there was any threat that was made to go back to manual operations, it was by Asec. Torres herself when she issued the memo to the regional directors of the LTO instructing them to prepare to go back to manual operations.”

The feud between Torres and Stradcom started when the firm accused the LTO chief of conniving with the group of Quiambao’s former associates that staged a takeover of the company’s facility late last year.

Torres has repeatedly denied the allegations.

But in the prepared statement that she read, Torres said: “Our priority is the preparation of a comprehensive Terms of Reference (TOR) and conduct a transparent and fair public bidding of the LTO IT project in preparation for the end of the current contract in February 2013.

“We will make sure that the new TOR will answer the problems that we are currently experiencing in the security of the IT system and database of the LTO,” she said in Filipino.

Torres said her first agenda now that she is back is to review the issues and actions taken by the agency when she was gone and to prepare to brief Secretary Manuel Roxas II of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) on LTO issues.

“In the two months that I have been away from office, I have reformulated my development program for the LTO. Now that I am back, we shall continue to pursue actions under this umbrella program ‘The Road to Change’.”

Torres maintained that she was not close to President Aquino, and that her being described as his “shooting buddy” was a misnomer.

Torres was earlier branded by opposition congressmen allied with former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a member of the so-called “KKK” group whom they accused Aquino of coddling.

KKK stands for kaibigan (friends), kaklase (classmates) and kabarilan (shooting buddies).

**CoDer** · June 22nd, 2011 03:15 PM

This time I can say G*go tong si PNoy. Bat di nya kayang tangalin yang si Torres? gawing target yan sa shooting, w*langhiy* sa kapal ng mukha.

**shadow** · June 22nd, 2011 03:25 PM

INC member yata si Torres? let's all wait for Roxas kung ano gagawin niya. he was given a free hand by Pnoy

**Monseratto** · June 22nd, 2011 04:48 PM

PNoy said to wail for Malacanang's action regarding DOJ's report on Torres . But based from PNoy's previous pronouncements, this will be another whitewash... Tapos magtataka sila bakit bumaba yung public rating ni PNoy...

LAND Transportation Office chief Virgie Torres will never do a Ping de Jesus or a Totoy Diokno. She said resigning “is an insult to the government.”

**boybi** · June 22nd, 2011 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by phezthie

the million $ question is, why retain torres instead of de jesus?

dahil magaling sa shooooooting....

Dahil INCorporated na, shooting buddy pa.

**digitalron** · June 22nd, 2011 05:40 PM

I've read articles pertaining to this issue and in the end, I couldn't help but conclude that somehow, Torres IS conniving with the corporate opponents of Quiambao. After all, she was seen escorting Sumbilla's people during the failed takeover attempt against STRADCOM. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

And she claims she is withholding payments to STRADCOM because of the ownership dispute? LTO doesn't have damn jurisdiction over corporate affairs; let the SEC manage that! As long as STRADCOM is fulfilling its duties to LTO, the LTO is obligated to pay, regardless of which Pontius Pilate is running things in STRADCOM. I mean, can we citizens opt to withhold payment of our electricity bills if the Meralco bigwigs slug it out in the boardroom? Jeez.

Hey PNoy, how about firing your amateurs and getting real technocrats and bureaucrats to run the government?!

**niwde11** · June 22nd, 2011 05:49 PM

Originally Posted by digitalron

Hey PNoy, how about firing your amateurs and getting real technocrats and bureaucrats to run the government?!

and all along some people thought that corruption will be minimized(definitely it wont stop) at Pnoy's presidency. Obvious ang vested interest ni Torres. katwirang wala sa tamang isip yung kaya ayaw mo magbayad kasi di mo alam ang me ari. ;tsk tsk

**Monseratto** · June 22nd, 2011 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by digitalron

Hey PNoy, how about firing your amateurs and getting real technocrats and bureaucrats to run the government?!

His lack of sociabilty with the right people is showing. Being an underachiever w/ a happy go lucky kind of leadership and relying on unqualified lackeys are starting to become a dangerous mix.