By Jelly Musico/PNA
MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte will sign into law a bill abolishing irregularities-ridden Road Board “as soon as” it is submitted to him, Malacañang said on Tuesday.
“Yes. That has been the position (of the President),” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said when asked during a Palace press briefing if Duterte intends to sign the bill once he receives it.
Panelo said the Palace is still against the release of the PHP45-billion road user’s tax or known as the motor vehicle user’s charge (MVUC).
“Ganun pa rin. Di pa nagbabago. (It will remain. It has not changed). We are against it, the release,” he said.
The Road Board was created in 2000 through Republic Act 8794 to efficiently manage the MVUC funds.
Panelo said the road user’s tax should be returned to the Treasury and “then let Congress appropriate again for specific purpose”.
He said the Palace’s support for abolition of the Road Board was based on Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno’s conversation with the President about the alleged corruption in the Board.
“That is the explanation of Secretary Diokno,” Panelo said.
Panelo, however, clarified he is not privy on the details of what Diokno had discussed with the President about the alleged misuse of MVUC funds.
Meanwhile, Panelo refused to give “categorical statement” on former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s claim that the Road Board abolition has something to do with some congressmen’s call to fire Diokno over alleged insertions in the PHP3.7-trillion proposed 2019 national budget.
“It could be. We don’t know exactly the reason why. That’s the statement of former speaker Alvarez. We can only speculate,” Panelo said.
Last September, the Senate passed and adopted the House bill filed by Alvarez, seeking the Road Board’s abolition.
Alvarez reportedly said lawmakers have been earning huge kickbacks from road projects funded by the road user’s tax.
He said House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s allies, who recently filed House resolution asking Duterte to “reconsider” the appointment of Diokno, wanted to control the proceeds of the MVUC.
Arroyo, former president and now Pampanga congresswoman, ousted Alvarez in a power play that broke out before Duterte’s 3rd State of the Nation Address last July.
Panelo reiterated that the Palace stands by the integrity and competence of Diokno as public official for the last 32 years.
“The reputation of Secretary Diokno is solid. In 32 years of his service, there is nothing we can throw to him. He is known to be one of those who say “no” to irregularities or to any favor he asked of it and he has been consistent that,” Panelo said.
