By Dax Lucas, Inquirer Business
Trouble of the multibillion-peso variety is once more afoot at a government agency being overseen by the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
This time, the issue is the looming shortage of motor vehicle license plates, starting with smaller plates for motorcycles but threatening to spill over into the realm of four-wheeled vehicles.
Biz Buzz learned that this problem is being caused by a disagreement between policymakers over the bidding for the contract to provide the government with these license plates. On one side is the camp of Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista and on the other is that of Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Jose Arturo “Jay Art” Tugade.
Bautista’s camp is whispering that the LTO under Tugade designed the terms of reference for the license plate contract to favor one particular bidder. Not so, whispers back Tugade’s camp, which says it is the DOTr leadership that is favoring a specific bidder for the deal.
Why is this such a big issue? Well, it’s literally a big deal, potentially worth over P5 billion, we hear. And remember that there is bad blood between Bautista and Tugade after the former successfully foiled a plan to have the latter suddenly appointed to the Manila International Airport Authority just a few months ago.
So expect more juicy details to emerge from one side against the other over the next few days.
(This item appeared in the Biz Buzz column in today’s issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer)
FILE PHOTO: Jay Art Tugade (right) shakes hands with DOTr Secretary Jimmy Bautista after being named as new chief of the the Land Transportation Office.
