Binay camp blames Roxas for floods, traffic

Vice President Jejomar Binay (left) and Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

Traffic would not have been as horrendous and a pain for commuters and motorists had Interior Secretary Mar Roxas ordered the release of P300 million for the Special Local Road Fund (SLRF) of 43 local government units (LGUs), a spokesman for Vice President Jejomar Binay said on Wednesday.

Joey Salgado, head of media affairs of the Office of the Vice President, said a recently released Commission on Audit (COA) report for 2013 showed that Roxas withheld P322,070,717 million in SLRF for 43 LGUs, including 10 in Metro Manila.

Salgado said the 10 LGUs are Las Piñas City (P4,342,544.00), Mandaluyong City (P3,574,974.00), Manila (P19,520,467.00), Muntinlupa City (P3,490,178.00), Parañaque City (P6,633,969.00), Pasay City (P3,303,884.00), Quezon City (P46,994,143.00), San Juan City (P3,420,223.00), Taguig City (P5,839,206.00), and Valenzuela City (P2,868,692.00)

“We lose 20,000 work hours daily due to traffic and yet we find out the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) could have helped LGUs do something about road maintenance if only the SLRF meant to augment their budget for this was released,” the Vice President’s spokesperson said in a statement.

According to the COA report, the spokesman said, Roxas did not release the SLRF because the 43 LGUs allegedly failed to pass the Seal of Good Housekeeping (SGH), a criterion set up by the DILG before the SLRF could be released.

The DILG website said the SGH “advances the primacy of performance, accountability, transparency and participation” in government projects. LGUs are assessed “on sound financial management measured through the absence of an adverse or a disclaimer COA opinion on local; financial transaction and on transparency and accountability measured through  the observance of the Full Disclosure Policy.”
Salgado said he agreed with the COA that the SGH could be “perceived as a punishment to the constituents and not just for the few who mishandled/mismanaged the financial resources of the 43 LGUs.”

“The non-release due to a DILG internal criteria is even contrary to the law. Under the existing law or RA 8974, the SLRF should be distributed to provincial and city governments exclusively for maintenance and improvement of local roads,” he said.

Salgado said LGUs are allotted the SLRF, or 5 percent of the Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge (MVUC), based on Republic Act 8794 “for road maintenance and the improvement of road drainage, for the installation of adequate and efficient road safety devices and, traffic management.”

Salgado said Roxas should not have disallowed access to the SLRF based on the SGH grading, noting the COA position that passing the SGH was not a requirement for the LGUs to avail of the SLRF.

“It should be released as intended by the law. The law is above any criteria DILG has set,” Binay’s spokesperson said.

“If the funds were released then, roads could have been maintained and traffic management measures could have been put in place to ease traffic in Metro Manila and other urban centers. Drainages could have been cleared too and we would have less flooding in Metro Manila,” he added.

In excluding the 43 LGUs and denying them access to the funds, Salgado said the LGU officials were not the ones who were punished “but the taxpayers whose money the DILG held on to which should have been used for road repairs and road expansion to make travelling in the country faster and easier for them.”

“DILG also hampered economic growth when it did not release the funds at the time it was allotted and needed. We all know traffic hours cost the economy funds our country needs to provide services to the people. Kaya nga sila nagbabayad ng taxes,” he said.

“Here, we have another example of funds for important projects that were not used. Naging ‘savings’ uli?” he asked.

The opposition earlier hit the “underspending” of the administration for alleged failure of the Department of Budget and Management to release the funds of different government agencies for their approved projects in 2014.  Maila Ager / CB