House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
Some members of the Road Board are collecting 20 percent for each project implemented by the agency, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez alleged on Wednesday.
Alvarez, who earlier called for the abolition of the graft-ridden agency, said his own staff was recently a victim of extortion by a Road Board employee.
READ: Speaker wants to abolish graft-ridden Road Board
“Ang ginagawa, humihingi ng 20 percent dun sa project, tapos kung ayaw mo ng 20 percent, ang option mo ay sila yung kukuha ng contractor,” Alvarez said in an interview with DZMM Radio.
(What they do is they ask 20 percent for the project and if you don’t want to give 20 percent, then your option is to let them get contractors for you.)
“Yung sa akin, hindi ito hearsay, personal knowledge po ito. Pinapunta ko yang mga ‘yan sa opisina at kinon-front talaga ng mga tao ko, mineeting at hiningian,” he added.
(This is not hearsay, this is personal knowledge. I summoned them [Road Board staff involved] and my staff confronted them.)
Alvarez recently filed House Bill No. 6236, which seeks for the abolition of Road Board, saying it was “just another layer of bureaucracy, which became an avenue for graft and corruption.”
The Road Board, created through Republic Act 8794, was formed to ensures the adequate maintenance of national and provincial roads through sufficient funding and it is mandated to implement the efficient management and utilization of the special funds earmarked for the purpose of road maintenance and improvement of road drainage, installation of adequate traffic light and road safety devices and air pollution control.
The Road Board, in its defense to the Speaker’s accusations, said that it has already asked the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate and file charges against “individuals who have used spurious public documents to facilitate fund transfers.”
The Speaker said the House of Representatives will soon launch its probe into the alleged misuse of Road User’s Tax.
He also expected his measure to be prioritized by Congress as Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III filed a counterpart measure at the Senate.
Alvarez said it is about time for the Road Board to be dissolved, to streamline government operations, particularly the Department of Public Works and Highways.
“So tingin ko ay panahon na para buwagin ito at isaayos natin para naman yung pondo na nakokolekta doon ay hindi na nasasayang (I think, now is the time to abolish it so that the funds collected by the agency will not go to waste.),” Alvarez said.
Under Alvarez’s proposed measure, the Road User’s Tax will be remitted to the National Treasury and appropriated through the General Appropriations Act. JPV