Bill abolishing Road Board now on Duterte’s desk

MANILA, Philippines — The bill abolishing the graft-ridden Road Board is now on President Duterte’s desk for his signature.

House Bill 7436, which was adopted by the Senate to dispense with the legislative process of reconciling differing provisions of the respective versions of the two chambers of Congress, was transmitted by the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office to Malacañang on Feb. 8.

The measure will lapse into law if the President fails to act on it within 30 days.

Duterte in 2017 asked Congress to legislate the abolition of the Road Board, which manages funds from the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge. The MVUC is part of the fees for annual vehicle registration.

He said the abolition is part of the government’s effort to streamline services and stop corruption in the agency.

The MVUC collections are supposed to be used exclusively for road maintenance and improvement of road drainage, installation of traffic lights and road safety devices, as well as air pollution control.

Duterte said billions of pesos in revenue from the road user’s tax found their way to corrupt officials’ pockets.

The Commission on Audit (COA) has consistently flagged the utilization of MVUC funds.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III also said the agency is collecting about P12 billion a year in road users’ taxes.

COA has questioned the use of about P90 billion of the over P160 billion fund last year, he added.

From 2001 to May 2018, the total collection for MVUC reached P166.18 billion. At least P136.87 billion of that amount have been released.