MANILA — A lawmaker at the House of Representatives on Wednesday called for the abolition of the Road Board following adverse audit findings by the Commission on Audit (COA).
Valenzuela City Rep. Wes Gatchalian said the budget of the graft-ridden Road Board should be diverted to the rehabilitation of the war-torn Marawi City.
“I believe there are more worthwhile uses for those funds such as in education and to complete the rehabilitation of Marawi,” Gatchalian said.
He made the statement after COA released a report stating that the PHP3.97-billion National Road Lighting Program was not “efficiently and effectively” implemented.
“There is really no cogent reason for, why in terms of our bureaucratic design, this body should still exist. We already have a very competently managed DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways),” he said.
“Another layer of bureaucracy merely increases the chance of inefficiency and irregularity in government,” he added.
In its report, COA noted that the implementation of the NLRP was carried out by the Road Board Secretariat (RBS), which did not have technical capability nor the legal mandate to implement infrastructure projects.
COA also added that due to the delays in the construction of the lamps, the goals of the project to curb road-related accidents, as well as enhanced security, were not fully achieved.
“We are about to go on budget season again in the opening of Congress, and so we are expected to provide billions of pesos once more to this body. With all these reports, I am hoping that before we get to that point, we first deliberate on the merits of the measures seeking to abolish it,” he said.
The bill seeking the abolition of the Road Board to prevent the misuse of billions of pesos in road users’ tax has already hurdled third reading at the House of Representatives in May.
The Senate has already approved its own version last February. The bill is now up for bicameral negotiations and will soon be forwarded to the Palace for President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s signature.
The Road Board was created under Republic Act No. 8794, which imposes a motor vehicle users’ charge (MVUC) on owners of all types of motor vehicles.
The MVUC is earmarked solely for road maintenance and improvement of road drainage, installation of traffic lights and road safety devices, and air pollution control.
However, previous COA reports flagged irregularities in the use of the MVUC funds, such as unauthorized, unnecessary, and irregular expenses, excessive contract costs for projects, delayed and uncompleted projects, and technical deficiencies and defects in projects that could jeopardize motorists and pedestrians.
Under the bill, the collections of the road fund shall be allocated in special trust accounts under the National Treasury: 40 percent each in the national and local road support funds, both managed by the DPWH; 10 percent in the vehicle pollution control fund managed by the DOTr; and the pollution control fund managed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. (Filane Mikee Cervantes/PNA)