黑料社

If President Rodrigo Duterte wanted to get rid of the Road Board, why did he green-light the release of its funds?

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. on Wednesday raised this question, contradicting the claim of Palace spokesperson Salvador Panelo and Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno that the President wanted to abolish the body handling the P45-billion revenue raised through the road user鈥檚 tax.

Andaya said the President had given his consent to the distribution of the funds from the tax, officially known as motor vehicle user鈥檚 charge (MVUC), when he and Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo met with the President over dinner in Malaca帽ang in September.

Moreover, the House majority leader said the President had turned down the resignation of Luisito 鈥淐hito鈥� Clavano as Road Board executive director, prompting the House leadership to rescind the measure that would dissolve the board.

Andaya, who served as budget secretary during the Arroyo presidency, said then Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence 鈥淏ong鈥� Go was also present at their meeting.

Clavano resignation

鈥淒uring our discussion, we asked the President what he really wanted to do with the Road Board. And he said that Chito Clavano had resigned, but he did not accept it,鈥� he said at a news briefing.

鈥淭hen we asked him what does it mean. He said he trusted [Clavano] and he thought [Clavano] could fix the system. Then the President said the release of funds for the projects would proceed,鈥� he said.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 our understanding. What he said was clear to us. That鈥檚 why we withdrew the [abolition] bill,鈥� Andaya said.

Asked if the President directly told them that he wanted to abolish the board, he said: 鈥淣o. He said that the release of the funds should continue. It means that the operations of the Road Board will continue.鈥�

Told that this was contrary to the statements of Panelo and Diokno, the Camarines Sur representative said: 鈥淢aybe you should ask them if they actually talked to the President.鈥�

Speaker鈥檚 signature

Andaya insisted that the measure transmitted by the Senate to Malaca帽ang abolishing the Road Board would no longer have any legal effect since it did not contain the Speaker鈥檚 signature.

鈥淓ven if we all want the abolition, we cannot do anything now because the members of the House of Representatives unanimously withdrew their support for the bill,鈥� he added.

Andaya played down Diokno鈥檚 accusations that Arroyo鈥檚 allies in the House were against the abolition of the Road Board because the agency had been a source of kickbacks for lawmakers.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 not true. It鈥檚 a lie,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you look closely at the House bill, which the Senate adopted, it will not actually abolish the Road Board.鈥�

Three kings

Instead, Andaya said House Bill No. 7436 鈥� principally authored by former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez 鈥� only relegated the authority of the seven-member board to the 鈥渢hree powerful Road Board kings.鈥�

Under the bill, he said the supervision of billions of pesos in MVUC, collected yearly from vehicle owners, would be given to the secretaries of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

鈥淭his would actually make the release of funds easier. It would also make it more prone to corruption,鈥� he added.

Andaya said Diokno lied when he claimed that the MVUC would be funneled to the general fund of the national treasury if the Road Board would be dissolved, allowing Congress to appropriate the money for certain projects.

Special trust fund

The funds, he said, would be siphoned off to a 鈥渟pecial trust fund 鈥� under the management and disposal of just three Cabinet secretaries.鈥�

The House majority leader said 80 percent of the funds would be allocated to the DPWH while the rest would be shared equally between the DOTr and the DENR.

He questioned why the DENR should be allowed to access the funds for garbage collection.

Sen. Grace Poe on Wednesday added her voice to the growing Senate clamor to enact the measure abolishing the Road Board.

The chair of the Senate public services committee said she supported the plan of Senate President Vicente Sotto III to submit the bill to President Duterte for his signature since the measure was as good as enacted. 鈥擶ith a report from DJ Yap