Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief, Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor D. Mendoza II, announced on Saturday that he has ordered a thorough investigation into the acquisition of 756 breath analyzers purchased in 2015 and 2017.

The order is one of the two measures that the LTO is now conducting — the first is to fix what remained of the 756 breath analyzers after an inventory revealed that they are no longer serviceable.

Based on the assessment, only 288 of the 756 units could be fixed and recalibrated.

Mendoza said the first batch of 150 units in 2015 was bought at P68,000 per piece while the second batch of more than 600 units was bought at P38,000 each.

“Our first objective is really to fix the purchased breath analyzers because what is important right now is to re-distribute them to our personnel on the ground for the strict implementation of the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act of 2013,” Mendoza said.

“The second is to review what happened in the past to determine if there were lapses and who could be held liable for that,” he added.

Mendoza said they are currently analyzing whether it would be more practical to purchase new breath analyzers rather than repair and recalibrate the existing ones.