The Office of the Ombudsman on Aug. 18 announced the preventive suspension of Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) chairman Vigor Mendoza II and Office of Transportation Cooperatives (OTC) chairman Teofilo Guadiz III over decisions they made as successive heads of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) that auditors say cost motorists more than P13.3 billion in extra computer fees between 2019 and 2025.
According to Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano, the suspension order — dated Aug. 17 — centers on both officials' continued use of a decades-old, privately operated information technology system even after the government's own replacement system was completed and accepted. "The Ombudsman found sufficient grounds for their preventive suspension, citing strong evidence showing their guilt," Clavano told reporters, citing findings from the Commission on Audit (COA) that the arrangement caused "an additional burden and expense for the transacting public."
What COA and the Ombudsman allege
The dispute traces back to a 1998 build-own-operate agreement between the then-Department of Transportation and Communications and private IT firm Stradcom Corp., which set up the computer systems used to process LTO registration, licensing, and related transactions nationwide. That original 10-year concession expired on Feb. 10, 2013, but continued on a month-to-month basis. In 2016, the LTO and Stradcom signed a phaseout agreement pending a fully operational replacement.
The government contracted a joint venture led by Dermalog Identification Systems in 2018 to build that replacement, the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS), which was meant to become the LTO's principal platform for vehicle registration and licensing. According to the Ombudsman's order, Guadiz — while LTO chief in 2022 — "favored Stradcom," reportedly saying the older system "provides a better solution." The order states that Mendoza, who succeeded Guadiz, issued memoranda in 2023 that effectively revived and institutionalized parallel use of the Stradcom system alongside the LTMS, rather than completing the transition.
COA's audit findings put the resulting cost to the public — in the form of continued computer fees — at P13.3 billion from 2019 to 2025.
Officials' response
Both Mendoza and Guadiz said they had not yet received a formal copy of the suspension order as of Aug. 18 but pledged to contest it. "This will be a good opportunity for me to prove it, and eventually clear my name, in the proper forum," Mendoza said in a statement. Guadiz said he remains "confident that the evidence and the official records will show that the actions I took during my tenure as Chief of the Land Transportation Office were lawful, undertaken in good faith, and guided by my duty to serve the public interest."
Clavano stressed that preventive suspension "is intended not as a penalty but to preserve documents and evidence and prevent possible further malfeasance or misfeasance in office" while the underlying case proceeds.
Context
Concerns over the Stradcom-LTO arrangement are not new. Civil society groups previously raised alarms about possible data-privacy risks tied to the continued use of the older, privately run system, and a graft complaint against current and former transport officials over LTO "computer fees" was already pending before this suspension order. The case adds to a string of 2026 Ombudsman actions against transport-sector officials and comes as the agency, under Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, has stepped up preventive suspensions across multiple agencies pending fuller investigation.
It remains unknown when a full administrative or criminal case will be resolved, and neither Mendoza nor Guadiz has been convicted of any offense. Pulpulitiko will continue to follow the case as the Ombudsman's investigation proceeds.
Sources
- Philippine Daily Inquirer, "Ombudsman suspends LTFRB, OTC chiefs over LTO P13-B fee mess," by John Eric Mendoza, Aug. 18, 2026: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2287226/ombudsman-suspends-ltfrb-otc-chiefs-over-lto-p13-b-fee-mess
- Philippine Daily Inquirer, "Current, ex-transport execs face graft rap over LTO 'computer fees'" (background): https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2223330/current-ex-transport-execs-face-graft-complaint-over-lto-computer-fees