Alvarez urges LTO chief Galvante to resign

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Wednesday called on Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Edgar Galvante to resign from his position due to the office's failure to procure and issue driver's license cards.

Alvarez attended the House Committee on Transportation's hearing discussing several bills related to the office.

Galvante, however, was not able to attend the meeting as he is undergoing medical treatment, according to LTO representative lawyer Jane Leynes.

In an ambush interview following the meeting, Alvarez said that if Galvante cannot do his job as LTO chief, the "most logical" step for him to do is resign.

"More than one year ka nang nakaupo diyan pero wala pa ring plaka 'yung mga sasakyan. Aba e the most logical thing for you to do is to resign. Ibig sabihin hindi mo kaya 'yung trabaho," he said.

"Kasi isa 'yan sa mga issues na ni-raise ng ating Presidente nu'ng siya'y kandidato pa lang na bakit 'pag bumili ka ng sasakyan ay mag-aantay ka ng ilang taon, wala pa ring plaka," he added.

Alvarez said that he himself became a transportation secretary before, so he could say first hand that it was not difficult to issue driver's license cards.

"Ganun ba kahirap 'yung plaka? Naging secretary din ako ng DOTC [Department of Transportation and Communications] before. I couldn't see any reason why hindi natin naibigay 'yung plaka. Napaka-simple na problema 'yan e," he said.

Alvarez said Galvante should resign so that Duterte could appoint another person capable of the job.

"Hindi naman mabigat na problema 'yung plaka. Ang daming supplier ng plaka, basta i-bidding mo lang 'yan, e 'di tapos," he said.

LTO representatives, however, said during the hearing that a bidding for the driver's license cards has already begun.

A petition is currently lodged before the Supreme Court to scrap the LTO's project involving the procurement of driver's license cards this year.

The petition stemmed from the awarding of the procurement of 8,360,000 pieces of driver's license cards to NEXTIX, Dermalog Identification Systems, and CFP Strategic Transaction Advisors Joint Venture, which placed a bid of P829,668,053.55.

Two other contractors participated in the bidding for the project, namely, the Kolonwel and AT Pura joint venture and Banner Plasticard Inc., which posted a bid of P814.32 million and P750 million, respectively. —KG, GMA News