Joselito Malig

Article (news)

Dennis Datu

ABS-CBN News

MANILA - The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has told lawmakers that it is preparing to blacklist German technology firm Dermalog Identification Systems GmbH over alleged contractual violations in the P3.19 billion Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) project, including its persistent failure to deliver a fully functioning system and the turnover of the source code before the contract expired.LTO Executive Director Atty. Martin Ontog, during the recent House Committee on Transportation (COTr) hearing, said that the LTMS remains incomplete for over 900 days despite 13 contract extensions, leaving the system unable to process even a single public utility vehicle (PUV) transaction or automatically collect penalties on new vehicle registrations, among other limitations. He added that the Commission on Audit (COA) has repeatedly flagged the LTMS for numerous deficiencies for four consecutive years.Ontog also revealed that Dermalog’s maintenance contract expired on May 13 without patching, active monitoring, and incident response, exposing the LTMS to crashes, slowdowns, and security risks. He added that Dermalog refused to turn over the LTMS source code despite repeated formal demands from the LTO, preventing the agency from gaining full control of the system.“Because Dermalog continues to withhold source code, encryption keys, and full administrative and database access, including the transfer of LTO’s complete database of vehicle registrations and driver’s licenses, the LTO is effectively blind in operating, maintaining, and most critically securing the LTMS. We cannot secure a system we do not control,” Ontog explained.Several lawmakers warned that a foreign entity’s continued control of the LTMS source code could pose national security and data security risks.Las Piñas City Lone District Rep. Mark Anthony Santos feared that Dermalog could potentially leak the personal data of roughly 10 million motorists, citing unsolicited text messages he recently received regarding alleged traffic violations.Aklan 1st District Rep. Jesus Marquez, meanwhile, questioned whether the LTMS database could be compromised under the current set-up after discovering that his birth information in the system appeared to have been altered.“When I registered, I remember that my birth date was entered correctly. But now, it appears as January 1, 1920. It’s concerning because when I tried to change it, I couldn’t because the system said only an administrator could do so. And since the LTO is not the administrator, you cannot change my birth date,” Marquez said.Ontog assured Marquez that the LTO can correct his birth information when he renews his driver’s license. However, he also revealed that the LTO may have to rebuild its motorists’ database from scratch if Dermalog never turns over the source code.The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) said it has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to compel Dermalog to turn over the source code to the LTO and to expedite its resolution of a petition filed by concerned citizens seeking to nullify the LTMS contract.Assistant Solicitor General James Lee Cundangan said the OSG is particularly concerned that a foreign company controls the LTMS source code, which he described as the “heart” of the system containing critical information on millions of Filipino motorists.Meanwhile, Ontog maintained that the LTO will continue the parallel operation of the LTMS and the Stradcom-developed LTO-IT System while awaiting the SC resolution to ensure uninterrupted public services, despite the Office of the Ombudsman’s earlier order directing the LTO to cease using the Stradcom-developed LTO-IT System.He argued that the use of the LTO-IT System is not an improvised workaround but is anchored on valid contracts and legal grounds.“Public service has to come before a directive we cannot comply with as written. The LTO-IT System is not an improvised workaround. It rests on the 1997 and 1998 NEDA approvals of the BOO arrangement, DOJ Opinion No. 7, series of 2018, and the Phaseout Agreement of December 2016 – a legal foundation spanning multiple government agencies, not a unilateral LTO decision,” Ontog said.Ontog said LTO operations were severely disrupted when the LTMS suffered a nationwide outage on June 3, forcing personnel to send motorists home after the agency complied with the Ombudsman’s order to refrain from using a back-up system. The investigation found that the outages occurred after the LTMS’s storage was fully utilized. The system subsequently suffered five more outages, which Ontog dismissed as occasional disruptions but have become the system’s operating condition.Ontog also revealed that an LTO probe found firewall logs showing repeated VPN connection attempts and login activity from a “Dermalog” account on June 2, even after the company’s contract had expired. The agency has since disabled the identified accounts and recommended replacing the firewall to ensure that full system access is placed under LTO control.DOTr Sec. Giovanni Lopez then directed the LTO on June 8 to contain and investigate the incident, conduct a vulnerability assessment, reset credentials, and coordinate with the Department of Information and Communications Technology-Computer Emergency Response Team (DICT-CERT), PNP Cybersecurity Group, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), and the National Privacy Commission (NPC).

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has told lawmakers that it is preparing to blacklist German technology firm Dermalog Identification Systems over alleged contractual violations in the P3.19 billion Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) project.

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has told lawmakers that it is preparing to blacklist German technology firm Dermalog Identification Systems over alleged contractual violations in the P3.19 billion Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) project.

10 million motorists’ data leak feared; LTO mulls blacklisting Dermalog

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10 million motorists’ data leak feared; LTO mulls blacklisting Dermalog

Dennis Datu,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 05, 2026 01:02 AM PHT

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