By Charmaine A. Tadalan
VOTING 172-0, the House of Representatives passed on third and final reading the bill seeking to abolish the Road Board over allegations of misuse of public funds, misappropriation, and graft and corruption.
The Road Board, created by Republic Act No. 8794, is mandated to oversee the management and utilization of special funds from the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC), allocated for road maintenance, improvement of road drainage, and installation of traffic lights, among others.
The Commission on Audit had reported irregularities in the utilization of MVUC, such as excessive contract costs for projects, delayed and incomplete projects, and technical deficiencies and defects in projects.
Further, House Bill (HB) 7436 will also amended provisions on the management and distribution of the MVUC’s charge collections.
The bill proposed setting up four special trust accounts in the National Treasury, namely: Special National Road Support Fund (40%), Special Local Road Support Fund (40%), Special Pollution Control Fund(10%) and Special Vehicle Pollution Control Fund (10%).
The first two accounts will be managed by the Department of Public Works and Highways, and the other two, by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Transportation, respectively.
It also provides that funds collected will be allocated only for the construction, upgrading, repair, and rehabilitation of roads and bridges, road drainage, pollution control, including the establishment and improvement of solid waste management programs and facilities, and vehicle pollution control.
Among the bill’s authors are Majority Leader Rodolfo C. Fariñas and Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez.

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