A group of small-time private emission testing center (PETC) owners has urged Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres to investigate the alleged conflict of interest of IT providers owning a number of PETCs.

Macario Evangelista, president of the Association of PETC Owners for Environmental Protection (APOEP), said that the credibility of the LTO’s emission testing system is at risk given the advantage of IT providers owning PETCs over those PETCs who have no interconnectivity capacity.

Evangelista cited reports that the many small PETCs operating in the country are discriminated by the bigger PETCs owned by the IT providers that upload the emission test information of a vehicle into the LTO IT system.

“This is a critical problem that threatens the credibility and effectiveness of the entire emission testing system. The main problem with PETC IT providers owning PETCs is that other PETCs not owned by them suffer biased treatment and are unable to effectively perform their functions,” said Evangelista.

Evangelista also complained about the Temporary-Refusal-to-Upload or TRU which has been institutionalized by the IT providers to favor their own PETCs and kill the smaller emission test centers.

Also, the Private Emission Test Center Owners Association (PETCOA) has urged Stradcom Corporation, the IT provider of LTO, to answer the legal issues behind its collection of interconnectivity fees from vehicle registration applicants.

It would be recalled that Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus has instructed the LTO to review the agency’s contract with Stradcom Corporation.

Given the looming investigation, PETCOA president Tony Halili said Stradcom Corporation should be answering squarely the questions raised by various transport groups instead of “maligning the groups that are clamouring for the truth.”

“The issues to be addressed are Stradcom’s use of the LTO database for its own gain and profit, the legality of its interconnectivity fees and the validity of collecting the said fees which rightfully should go to the coffers of the government,” Halili said.

“We challenge Stradcom to answer the issues. It must be brave enough to provide valid answers to the valid issues we raised,” Halili added.