Senate adopts House version of Road Board abolition bill

MANILA, Philippines — The bill abolishing the corruption-tainted Road Board will soon be on its way to President Duterte for his signature after the Senate adopted yesterday the House of Representatives’ amended version of the measure.

Upon the motion of Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, the chamber swiftly adopted House Bill 7436, which seeks to abolish the board and transfer its functions and funding to the Departments of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Transportation (DOTr) and Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Zubiri told reporters that by next week or the first week of February at the latest, the bill would be on Duterte’s desk for signing into law.

The bill mandates the collections from the motor vehicle user’s charge (MVUC) – administered by the Road Board – be transferred to the National Treasury and the projects for funding be listed in the annual General Appropriations Act for greater transparency.

The MVUC is part of the annual registration fees collected from motor vehicle owners.

Just before adopting the revised House bill, the Senate first withdrew its support last Sept. 12 for the original version of the lower house.

The House on Monday passed on third and final reading the bill, which was amended following a brief tussle with the Senate last year.

The Senate passed its version last February while the House approved its counterpart bill in May. Both versions retained the MVUC – estimated at nearly P50 billion as of end-2018 – as an off-budget item.

The two chambers convened the bicameral conference committee to reconcile conflicting provisions of their versions of the measure.