Senate OKs plunder raps vs Ebdane, Puno

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate approved yesterday the filing of plunder and graft charges against resigned Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and former Road Board executive director Rodolfo “Dodie” Puno over the misuse of the Road Users’ Tax.

The Senate unanimously adopted the recommendation of its economic affairs committee to file plunder and graft charges with the Office of the Ombudsman against Ebdane, Puno and the other members of the Road Board, including Danilo Valero of the board secretariat.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago linked Dodie Puno and his brother, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, to the misuse of the road users’ tax, calling it a “scandal in the family” in her sponsorship speech titled “Apocalyptic Corruption: The P60.5-billion Road Fund.”

Dodie Puno served as executive director of the Road Board from 2005 to the first half of 2008.

In linking the interior secretary to the anomaly, Santiago noted that the Road Board Oyster Program was transferred to the Philippine National Police (PNP), which received P332.64 million for the program.

“This seems to be the only explanation on why the Road Board Oyster Program was transferred to the national police, which is under DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government),” Santiago said.

While the senator was hot on the Puno brothers, she seemed to be going slow on the recommendation of criminal charges being filed against Ebdane during her sponsorship speech.

But Santiago also pushed for the adoption of her committee report.

According to Santiago, Ebdane as ex-officio chair of the Road Board should explain his side over the issues raised by the Commission on Audit (COA).

After the conduct of a public hearing last month, the economic affairs committee concluded that there had been “unconscionable road tax anomalies involving billions of pesos.”

The senator was particular about what she described as the “unusually large amount of allotments that were obligated in 2007, an election year, amounting to P21.9 billion.”

The committee also found that there was unlawful overdraft in allotment amounting to P1.4 billion; unreconciled differences between the collections and deposits reported by the Land Transportation Office to the Road Board, and the certificate of deposits from the Bureau of Internal Revenue, for the period January 2001 and October 2008, amounting to Pl.2 billion.

In her resolution, Santiago noted the 2008 COA report which cited the “ominous sign of deliberate denial of transparency.”

From 2001 to 2009, Santiago said the Road Fund amounted to P60.5 billion.

Citing COA reports, Santiago enumerated in her speech the numerous “unconscionable scandals in the use of the Road Fund.” Among these was the “inexplicable” transfer of P332.64 million from the Out-of-School Youth Serving Towards Economic Recovery (OYSTER) program of the Road Board to the PNP.

“The (COA) concludes that the road tax has failed to fully achieve its objectives,” the senator said.

No objections to Santiago committee report

After her lengthy sponsorship speech before the plenary, Santiago’s committee report did not get any objections after she was interpellated by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

Lacson recommended the amendment of the law creating the Road Users Board and the implementation of the road users’ tax rather than repealing the law.

“My question took the form of the parliamentary inquiry if it’s possible that during the period of amendment on its committee report, all the proceeds of the road users’ tax will be incorporated into the general fund,” Lacson said.

Majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Lacson’s proposal would have to depend on the recommendation of the Senate finance committee.

“I am perfectly willing to amend the resolution depending on whatever the finance chair says on its effectivity if it is passed by our chamber,” Santiago said.

Lacson reasoned that his recommendation would prevent the road users’ tax from being abused by unscrupulous officials.

Enrile said the proposal “requires a study.”

“If we are going to repeal the law, that means we are going to repeal the tax on registration of vehicles. I think we should look into this and prepare a bill that will retain the tax but now the tax will no longer be a trust fund… but maybe made part of the general subject to the budgeting powers of Congress,” the Senate President said.

“That is very well taken but right now we are only concerned on a resolution. We have not made a decision yet on whether we should repeal or retain,” Santiago said, adding that the debates will be used as background in any road tax related resolution.

Santiago has recommended that the Motor Vehicles User’s Charge Act should either be amended or repealed, in order to provide for the deposit of road taxes with the National Treasury, and for the inclusion of its appropriations in the national budget in order to assure legislative oversight.

Santiago also urged the Senate President to create a Special Senate Oversight Committee on the Road Users’ Tax.

Under the 2000 Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge Act (also known as the Road Tax Law), Santiago noted all monies collected under the act shall be earmarked and used solely and exclusively (l) for road maintenance and improvement of road drainage, (2) for the installation of adequate and efficient traffic lights and road safety devices, and (3) for air pollution control. All monies collected shall be deposited in four special trust accounts in the National Treasury.

Dodie Puno’s extravagant lifestyle

Santiago also lambasted yesterday the extravagant “rich and famous” lifestyle of Dodie Puno.

Santiago cited as references the newspaper columns saying that he reportedly owns two yachts, expensive cars, luxury condominiums, gives expensive parties and is a person “totally indiscreet in this moneyed pursuit of movie stars and beauty queens.”

If challenged further, Santiago threatened to expose more about Dodie’s girlfriends and his alleged affairs.

“He has a wife and children but still goes after actresses and beauty queens who are also married but whose partner consents to the affair. Now I will attack and expose who your girlfriends are so that they will also get caught by their paramours. So you like scandals, I will give them! ” Santiago added.

She said the likes of Dodie “have violated the laws of civilized society, laws of nature and laws of God.”

“I accuse those crooks of the crime of terminal corruption. They are ghouls, they are vampires, and they should spend the rest of their lives in jail, for they have violated the laws of civilized society, the laws of nature and the laws of God,” Santiago said.

Santiago also noted that Dodie Puno was replaced by Danilo Valero, a former DILG assistant secretary in the second half of 2008.

Santiago also described the Oyster Program as a “brazen violation” of section 7 of the Road Tax Law which provides that the Road Fund “shall be earmarked solely and used exclusively for road maintenance and the improvement of road drainage.”

“Ronaldo Puno claims that every time I mention his name in exposing a scandal, I am driven by revenge because I lost the 1992 presidential election. That is always his mantra. I believe he repeats it in his sleep,” she said.

According to Santiago, Secretary Puno was driven by guilt for cheating her of the presidency through dagdag-bawas, or vote padding and shaving.

“This earned Sec. Puno his reputation as a man of the world, a man of means, and a ‘political strategist,’ which is a polite word for something that should not be repeated in civilized society. Ronnie said that I am pursuing a program of personal vendetta,” she added.

“No, Mr. Ronnie, don’t flatter yourself. I am conducting an infinite vendetta against all crooks in my tragic country.”

Ombudsman urged to investigate

Santiago also called on Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to investigate Dodie Puno and other officials of the Road Board.

The Road Board manages and utilizes the Road Fund, which comes from the Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge Tax or Road Tax. The Road Tax is the government’s third largest source of tax revenue, after taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs. 

The Road Tax is part of a vehicle’s annual registration fee,  paid by the vehicle owner to the Land Transportation Office (LTO). The LTO remits the fund to the Bureau of Treasury. The fund is not commingled with other funds in the Treasury. Instead, the money is deposited under special accounts.

Account for killer typhoon

“The Road Tax Law is an abject and deadly failure, as proven by the virtual lack of drainage during the killer storm ‘Ondoy’ and its successors in Metro Manila, Rizal, and other provinces listed as calamity areas,” Santiago said.

“It is always wrong to be a corrupt public official, but today more than ever, we cannot afford to leave the greedy crook to grab public funds that are mandated by law to improve our roads and to improve our drainage systems,” she said. “Because of godless graft and corruption, the crooks in the Road Board and its Executive Secretariat should be held responsible and accountable for the following carnage in our poverty-stricken country: 961 deaths, 90 missing, 756 human physical injuries, and P38.68-billion worth of properties destroyed.”

Santiago asked Congress to amend or even repeal the Road Tax Law, which, according to her, “has proved to be a hotbed of multibillion corruption.” Among her proposed amendments is more transparency in the use of the Road Fund.

“The Road Board and DPWH should post on their websites the list of projects programmed for Road Tax funding, based on their planning tool known as HDM-4.  They should also put the list of projects actually funded, the actual releases, disbursements, and accomplishments,” she said.

Reorganization of the board

Santiago also proposed the reorganization of the Road Board.

“The present composition of four public officials serving ex-officio, out of seven members, renders the Road Board dependent on its full-time executive director, who becomes a financial despot. Perhaps, as in New Zealand, the Road Board should be composed of road users themselves, without any member from government. In the alternative, the road users should at least be the majority in the Road Board, for better control and accountability,” she said.

She also asked Senate President Enrile to “immediately establish an Oversight Committee on the Road Tax, so that at least some form of legislative monitoring could be exercised over this particular giant pot of honey that has attracted so many busy bees.”