MANILA, Philippines — “To further strengthen” the dissolution of the graft-ridden Road Board, Senate Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri on Saturday called for the re-convening of the bicameral committee.
This developed as House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. said their chamber would heed President Rodrigo Duterte’s call on the abolition of the Road Board, which manages the road user’s tax or the motor vehicle user’s charge (MVUC).
READ: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1065353/house-to-heed-dutertes-call-for-road-board-abolition-andaya
In a message to reporters, Zubiri said: “If they are now resolved to abolish the Road Board like we do in the Senate, we can recall the enrolled copies sent to Malacañang and re-convene the bicam committee to further strengthen the abolition of the corruption riddled agency.”
Zubiri said the Senate and the House of Representatives should also meet to discuss other issues that comes with the abolition of the Road Board, including the agency’s income that could either be reverted to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) or National Treasury.
“If Nonoy is agreeable to this, we can re-convene the bicam upon the motion of both houses on January 14 and meet for a day to simply craft the wordings to the law that will abolish the agency and revert the income and the funds to either the DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways] or National Treasury,” he said.
Zubiri also said the untapped income of the Road Board could be infused in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) or national budget and fund free tuition, anti-poverty measures, and infrastructure government projects.
“Get all the collections of MVUC and add it to the revenue collection of government. Back to the GAA so that it could be used to fund Free Tertiary Education, Anti-poverty measures as well as the Build build Build projects of the Government. Time to reform the use of these funds for the good of our people,” he pointed out.
Echoing Zubiri, Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said in an interview over DWIZ that the controversial agency lacked transparency that it is only right to have its budget used under GAA.
“Kasi kulang sa transparency, maganda na nasa GAA na,” Pimentel said.
On Friday, President Rodrigo Duterte said the Road Board must be scrapped because its has “become a milking cow of corrupt officials.”
“Let’s just go ahead and abolish it,” Duterte said in a speech during the change of command of Philippine Air Force at Villamor Airbase in Pasay City.
“I have always been wary about this office because it has been the milking cow of people who are in government,” he added.
The Road Board oversees road user’s tax, which is collected annually for maintenance and improvement of roads, drainage, and road safety devices. /kga