Swift ‘paper bicam’ eyed on Road Board abolition

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate set yesterday conditions before it would accede to the request of the House of Representatives to reconvene the bicameral conference committee to put in amendments to the bill abolishing the corruption-tainted Road Board.

The conditions or “parameters” were decided during a closed-door caucus called by Senate President Vicente Sotto III as Congress resumed session yesterday.

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. earlier announced that the chamber’s contingent bicameral conference committee is ready to sit down with senators to discuss President Duterte’s directive to abolish the Road Board.

The convening of the bicameral committee – which is composed of delegates from the two chambers tasked to reconcile conflicting provisions of the bill – is an issue to the Senate as the latter’s view is that this may not be necessary since the chamber last September adopted the House’s version of the controversial bill.

Sotto said Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri would meet with Andaya to determine exactly what the House wants as an outcome of the bicameral conference committee proceedings.

Zubiri said the Senate may agree to convene the committee only if the House accedes to putting the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC) funds in the annual national budget and possibly expand the menu of projects the item can fund, and to make sure the proceedings will be short or just a day.

He said what could happen is a “paper bicam” where both chambers already have an agreement on the amendments to be made so it would just be a matter of rewriting some provisions.

“Nothing official, just talk first. I mean, what’s this (bicameral committee) all about? What else can be done? Is there an issue on what to do with the Road Board budget?” Sotto told reporters.

“At the moment we still stand on our position that it (House bill) has already been adopted (by the Senate),” he said.

Andaya insisted on a bicam for Road Board’s abolition. 

“The bill, as presented by both houses, is totally opposite of what the President wants. As proposed now, it cannot be used for the repair of damaged areas. It can be used for garbage collection,” Andaya stressed. – With Delon Porcalla