Ex-LTO chief sued for graft over P470-million payment for license plates program

A graft complaint has been filed against former Land Transportation Office chief and lawyer Vigor Mendoza and private citizen Annabelle Arcilla-Margaroli before the Office of the Ombudsman over a P470-million payment made to a private firm for implementation of the Motor Vehicle License Plates Standardization Program (MVLSP).

In his complaint, Caesar Zamoranos of PPI-JKG Philippines alleged that Mendoza as LTO chief paid PPI-JKG the said amount even if the PPI-JKG’s leadership is still in dispute.

“Respondent Mendoza acted with manifest partiality and evident bad faith when he caused the filing of the Joint Motion, which led to the dismissal of the Interpleader complaint that resulted in giving undue favor and benefit to Respondent Margaroli and undue injury to the LTO, as it allowed itself to imprudently pay the millions of pesos to a wrong party, Respondent Margaroli, and damage to me and Christian Calalang who will be deprived of our rightful shares in the litigated funds,” the complaint read.

Margaroli, according to the complainant Zamoranos, changed the names of the stockholders and directors of PPI-JKG and reflected the names of new officers and directors, excluding Calalang.

“Respondent Mendoza's unlawful act is evidenced by his conformity on the signatory page of the Joint Motion,” the complaint pointed out.

“By filing the Joint Motion, the respondents have adjudged Margaroli as the rightful owner of the government funds supposed to be paid out of the MVLSP contract to the extreme prejudice of me and Christian Calalang. Instead of preserving the disputed public funds, and allowing the court to resolve the controversy over PPI-JKG,” the complaint added.

In response, Mendoza denied the allegations.

“I will answer all the allegations raised in the complaint point by point as soon as I receive a copy of the formal complaint. But this early, I am confident that this has no legal basis and is merely intended to harass me. My track record as LTO chief speaks of itself—specially on the matter of resolving the 11-year old problem involving millions of license plates,” he said.

“I will not allow anybody or any group with vested interest to taint our hard work and sacrifices to finally address the problem,” he added.

Further, Mendoza said that when he assumed the top LTO post in July 2023, there were already two existing contracts—one with the Trojan Tonjes and with the PPI-JKG, which was awarded in 2013 but was faced with legal issues until the Supreme Court ruled its validity and eventually amended by the DOTR in 2024.

“During my time, payments were made to PPI in compliance with the Supreme Court order after it delivered license plates to LTO. And let me make it clear that the delivery of plates was a significant help in finally addressing the plate backlog,” Mendoza said.

“As to this allegation, I can categorically say that the LTO made no contract with a certain Ms. Margaroli, and therefore, no payment was made to her,” Mendoza added. — BM, GMA Integrated News