EE ***Februalvl\
Congress fast-tracks Road Board abolition bill
BY BUTCH TERNANDEZ
t @butch|BM
r cONGRESS-APPROVED bill abolishing
f\ ,n" "gr"ft'a"inted'Road Board Regula-
i7 ltorv Aqency, transmitted to the Palace
dn February 8, awalts President Duterte's signa-
ture, the last stage for the remedial legislation
to become a law.
the
To pave the way for its early enactment,
Senate adopted withoutamendmentshouse Bill
IHB) 7426, di5pensing with the bicameral con-
ference commlttee usually tasked to Jeconcile
conflicting provisions in the Senate- and House-
approved versions of a bill.
The Road Board abolition bill was forthwith
transmitted to Malacanang on February 8 for Presi-
dent Duterte to approve or veto within 30 days,
beyond which it will automatically lapse into law
Conqress insiders, howevet ruled out a presi-
who
dentia I veto, recalling that it was Duterte
abolish-
earlier prodded legislators to pass a law
in
ing the Road Board amid reports of anomalies
managing funds from the'Motor Vehicle User's
cr'arg-e(tvlvuc)'upposedtobeusedexclusivelysenateprobersrecallthatDutertehadearlier
for road maintenance and improvement of road
drainaqe, lnstallation oftraffic llghts and road-
control.
safety devices, as well as airpollution
bi!
The president hiftself complained that
found
lions of revenue from the road user's tax
the
its wayto corrupt officia Is' pockets, even as
commission on Audit (coA) consistentlyflagged
the utilization of MVUCfunds.
Sotto
For his part, Senate President Vicente C'
the
ll1 recalled that the COA had also questioned
useofPgobillionofoverPl60-billionMvucfundsremittheroadusers,taxtotheNationalTrea'
collected last year.
Records provided to the senate showed
the Road Board collection from 2001 to May
201 8 for MVUC added u p to P 166.1 8 billion, of
" Prlqg--l<"
which P 1 36.87 billion were released. Budget sec-
retary Benjamin E Diokno, however' confirmed
that the board still had an u nspent MVUC fund
of P45 billion
asked congress in 20 1 7 to abolish the Road Board
as part of his administration's effort to streamline
services and stop corrtlption in the agency'
Acting on the presidential request, l\4ajority
Leader Juan Miguel F. zubiri on January 22 for
mally moved for the Senate to adopt HB 7426
abolishing the Road Board to enable congress
to submit the bill for signing into law sooner'
As approved, the senate and the House of
Representatives agreed to adopt a provision to
sury to fund priority programs and proiects of
the government, with allocations ofthe fund to
be decided by Congress in crafting the annual
national budget law'