ANTIPOLO City 2nd district Rep. Romeo Acop, who chairs the Committee on Transportation, has accused Dermalog, the foreign information technology (IT) provider of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), of “deceiving the government” and its joint venture (JV) partners in the P3.14 billion Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) project.
Acop made the statement after local construction firm Verzontal Builders, Inc. revealed during the continuation of the committee hearing on the irregularities of the LTMS project last Monday that Dermalog failed to pay them in full for the electrical, mechanical, and civil works that they have completed under the JV, particularly the construction of a data center inside the LTO’s main compound in Quezon City.
“You’ve been dealing with this government, but it seems you are deceiving it, as well as your partners,” Acop told Dermalog execs.
Verzontal Director Jose Natividad said Dermalog has yet to pay an estimated P165 million that covers direct costs, variation orders, and other requests of the foreign IT firm in the data center construction. This is on top of the 25 percent profit share the company is collecting from the JV.
Natividad admitted they went through an amicable settlement with Dermalog through the former LTO administration but they were only offered P1 million.
Natividad also said they were illegally removed from the JV, which prompted them to seek help from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the LTO.
“We were unilaterally and illegally removed from the JV because since day one (of the project) we were not paid, and we discovered some fraudulent acts by Dermalog,” Natividad said.
Verzontal’s legal counsel, Atty. Ricardo Gao Pronove III, said they sent several letters to the DOTr and the LTO to complain about how badly Dermalog has been treating the JV.
Natividad corroborated Pronove’s claims and added that they have also requested several meetings with Dermalog representatives and the LTO, but a former LTO official instead accused them of bullying the German IT firm.
Before the term of the previous LTO administration ended, Verzontal learned that Dermalog changed the JV and removed them from the project.
Verzontal is mulling filing charges against former LTO officials and other members of the JV including Dermalog, Microgenesis, and Holy Family Printing, Corp. for removing them from the JV without their consent. They are also awaiting the decision of a Quezon City Court on the petition filed by a private citizen who sought to terminate the contract of the LTO with the Dermalog JV.
Dermalog’s legal counsel and Philippine representative, Atty. Anthony Peralta, belied Natividad’s allegations and claimed they had already paid over P219 million to Verzontal from September 2018 to September 2021.
Peralta added that Dermalog spent P119 million to finish the data center construction, and it was Verzontal that decided to leave the JV in April 2019.
The transportation committee has invited former LTO officials and JV representatives to its next hearing to explain matters involving the LTMS contract and the Dermalog JV.
