LTO to refund P29.8-M RFID fees

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is set to refund more than P29.8 million it collected from car owners in its radio frequency identification (RFID) project that was declared illegal by the Supreme Court in 2017.

LTO chief Edgar Galvante issued yesterday memorandum circular 2019-2170, which outlines the procedure in refunding the RFID fees collected in 2009.

Starting Aug. 15, claimants can get the refund from the regional and district offices

where the fee was collected.

The LTO master list has a total of 85,657 payors who will be refunded the P350 fee plus an additional P9 as interest earned.

The claimant has to submit the accomplished RFID Fee Refund Form and a copy of a valid government identifiecation card.

The refund comes two years after the high court ruled that the RFID project was illegal due to lack of public bidding.

The LTO had signed a P2.45-billion deal with Stradcom Corp. for the RFID project in June 2009 but the implementation was stopped by the Supreme Court in 2010.

In its 2017 ruling, the tribunal said the microchip-based system which LTO awarded to Stradcom Corp. during the Arroyo administration was unlawful due to lack of public bidding.

Under the plan, each vehicle would be required to have stickers containing a microchip upon registration or renewal of registration for P350.

The chip will contain information about the vehicle and its owner.

The SC ruled that the project should have undergone public bidding pursuant to Section 5 of the Build-Operate-Transfer Law.

Several party-list groups and transport organization had also questioned the LTO project, saying that it did not undergo review by the National Economic and Development Authority.