Senators want Road Board taxes transferred to 2019 nat’l budget

Leaders of the Senate have united in seeking the transfer of road users’ tax collections to the proposed 13.757trillion national budget for 2019.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the Upper Chamber will insist on including the taxes collected by the Road Board in the proposed General Appropriations Act (GAA) for next year.

“Siguradong mapapag-usapan yan at siguradong ipipilit ng Senado yan na ilagay sa GAA yung budget ng road users' tax (It will surely be tackled and the Senate will make sure to place the road user's tax in the GAA),” Sotto told reporters recently.

The Road Board manages the collections from road users' tax, or the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC), which are earmarked exclusively for road maintenance and improvement, installation of traffic lights and road safety devices, and air pollution control.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto agreed with Sotto, saying the disbursement of the MVUC collections should be stated in the national budget. “That's the real issue. Abolish the Road Board and include MVUC funds in the GAA. It's spending should be line item as well,”

Recto said.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said this was his stand in pushing for the abolition of the Road Board. Zubiri was a principal author to the Senate-approved bill seeking the dissolution of the graft-ridden agency.

“Get all the collections of MVUC and add it to the revenue collection of government. Back to the GAA,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Congress, not the Road Board, should have authority in allocating the collections of the road users' tax as he stressed the need for transparency. “Put in the GAA. Appropriation is a function of the legislature which should not be delegated to the Road Board. Transparency is important,” Drilon said in a text message.

Drilon is among lawmakers who have allegedly sought funds from the Road Board.

According to House majority Leader Rolando Andaya, 29 lawmakers, including Drilon, and government engineers have sought over 15 billion in road users’ tax to fund road maintenance and safety projects.

Andaya released the 14-page listing, sourced from the office of Road Board Executive Director Luisito Clapano, to House reporters as he decried the alleged “fake news” on the issue allegedly being peddled by Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

Former House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas (NP, Ilocos Norte), one of the authors of House Bill 7436 that sought to eliminate the Road Board, has five projects requiring a total funding of some 1278 million.

As reflected in the document, the Road Board has sought from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) the issuance of the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) amounting to 116 million for a project that Drilon has proposed.

Senator Juan Edgardo Angara’s name is also in the list but the project proposed is shared with her aunt, Aurora Rep. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo. Together, they proposed three projects that would cost an aggregate 186 million.

Fariñas said he believes in the authenticity and accuracy of the list if it came from the House of Representatives. “Members of Congress make such recommendations as our District Engineers say that the Road Board requires such,” he stressed.

Other congressmen whose funding recommendations are among the highest in the list were Reps. Jericho Nograles (PBA Party-list), seven projects for 1260.8 million; Aurelio Gonzales (NP, Pampanga), nine projects for 151.07 million; Nograles and Mark Sambar (PBA Partylist), 1150 million for one project; Nancy Catamco (PDP-Laban, North Cotabato), 1100 million for three projects; Prospero Pichay (Lakas-CMD, Surigao del Sur), P60 million; Francisco Jose Matugas (NUP, Surigao del Norte), 194 million for two projects; Abraham Tolentino (PDP-Laban, Cavite), 1150 million for three projects; and Strike Revilla (Lakas-CMD, Cavite), 142.4 million or one project.

Release of SARO were also sought by the following lawmakers: Reps. Ron Salo (Kabayan Party-list), 120 million; Marilyn Agabas (NPC, Pangasinan), 115 million; Arnel Ty (LPGMA Partylist) 130 million; Jose Panganiban (ANACIP), 117.5 million; Johnny Ty-Pimentel (PDP-Laban, Surigao del Sur), 119.7 million; Arnel Cerafica (NUP, TaguigPateros), 120 million; Jose Tejada (NP, North Cotabato), P20 million; Robert Ace Barbers (PDP-Laban, Surigao del Norte), 125 million; Sherwin Tugna (CIBAC Partylist), 110 million; Tricia Nicole Catera (Ang Mata Partylist), 110 million; Ma. Theresa Collantes (NPC, Batangas), 125 million; Bernadette Herrera-Dy (BH Partylist), 19.84 million; Maximo Rodriguez (PDP-Laban, Cagayan de Oro City), 118.7 million; Teodoro Montoro (AASENSO Partylist); Sabiniano Canama (COOP-NATCCO Party-list); Tom Villarin (Akbayan Partylist) 112.59 million; Ma. Lourdes Aggabao (NPC, Isabela), 146.50 million; Napoleon Dy (NPC, Isabela), 110 million; and Luisa Lloren Cuaresma (NPC, Nueva Vizcaya).

Meanwhile, Andaya challenged Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to reconsider his decision not to attend the ongoing congressional hearings investigating reported irregularities involving the huge allocations for flood control program for a Sorsogon town that is not listed among the flood danger zones.