Zubiri: Bicam on Road Board abolition should be reconvened

MANILA, Philippines — The Congress bicameral conference committee (bicam) for the abolition of the Road Board should be reconvened to ensure that the controversial road user’s tax would not be “corrupted or wasted,” Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri maintained on Thursday.

The Senate leader said he would call for an all-member caucus on January 14 to discuss his proposal.

Zubiri issued the statement after Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Wednesday there was no need to reconvene the bicam for the dissolution of the controversial Road Board. Drilon said doing so has no basis since Senate had already adopted the House’s version on September 12.

READ: Drilon: No need to reconvene bicam for Road Board abolition 

“My suggestion was to appease the side of the House leadership that there should be corrections to the Alvarez approved version of the Road Board Abolition,” Zubiri said in a statement.

Although the Senate has adopted the House version as a “strategy to quickly approve the measure,” the senator said they “really wanted to meet in bicam as the Senate approved a stricter version.”

Zubiri also said there’s no reason to worry about the procedure as the bicam could meet and approve a better version of the measure– “wherein the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC) funds are properly directed back to the national treasury”– in just one day.

“I humbly appeal to our Minority Leader to keep an open mind to this and I would even ask him together with Sen. Lacson to be part of the bicam panel to make sure that the best measure can be put into place where the funds would never be corrupted or wasted,” the lawmaker added.

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. earlier accepted Zubiri’s call to pursue the abolition of the Road Board, which oversees the road user’s tax, also known as the MVUC.

READ: Andaya accepts Zubiri call to strengthen Road Board abolition bill

It was former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez who had claimed that the attacks of House leaders against Budget Chief Benjamin Diokno were triggered by the control over the road user’s tax.

Alvarez earlier said lawmakers have earned and stand to earn huge kickbacks from road projects funded by the P45 billion road user’s tax controlled by the corruption-plagued Road Board.

The Davao Davao del Norte 1st District representative also said allies of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wanted to control the proceeds from the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC).

READ: Alvarez: House row with Diokno about control of road user’s tax

Minority Leader Danilo Suarez has denied this, saying Alvarez’s claim was just a “diversion” on the issue of “insertions” in the proposed 2019 national budget. /muf

READ: Suarez blasts Alvarez: You’re using Road Board issue to ‘divert attention’

READ: Diokno: Lawmakers diverting attention from ‘pork’