By Filane Mikee Cervantes/PNA
MANILA — The Senate on Tuesday adopted a measure seeking to abolish the Road Board.
The move came a day after the House of Representatives approved on third reading the new version proposing the total scrapping of the graft-ridden agency and the transfer of the road user’s tax to the general fund.
Senate Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri moved to recall its earlier adoption of the previous version of House Bill 7436 and adopt the revised version. His motion was approved without objection.
“I move that we adopt the revised version of House Bill 7436 that was approved by the House of Representatives yesterday as an amendment to Senate Bill 1620,” Zubiri said.
The newly-adopted bill provides that all motor vehicle user’s charge (MVUC) collections will be remitted to the national treasury under a special account in the general fund to be earmarked solely for the construction, repair, and rehabilitation of roads, bridges, and road drainage to be included in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Zubiri said the bill would be transmitted to Malacañang for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature by first week of February.
The Senate earlier adopted the previous version of HB 7436 last September, dispensing the need for a bicameral conference between the two chambers. On the same day however, the House, led by Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, rescinded its approval of HB 7436, leading to an impasse.
The impasse was broken by the agreement among Zubiri, former House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. and Senator Ralph Recto last Tuesday.
