Senator Koko Pimentel III on Wednesday expressed satisfaction that President Rodrigo Duterte “did the proper thing and further heightened the fight against corruption” by signing Republic Act 11239, the measure abolishing the Road Board, a graft-ridden agency tasked with supervising the road user’s tax, officially known as the motor vehicle user’s charge (MVUC).
Abolishing the Road Board, Pimentel said has always been his personal crusade and advocacy.
The President abolished the Road Board and channelled the MVUC to the National Treasury when he signed RA 11239 on March 8.
“With the Road Board, we created an agency that evolved into the center of political patronage and inefficiency.”
“I’ve always stressed that the Road Board’s abolition was a major and necessary step in curbing corruption and in properly managing the government’s financial resources earmarked for putting into place world-class infrastructure, especially in developing areas in Mindanao and the Visayas,” the Mindanao-born lawmaker noted.
House Bill No. 7436, providing for the abolition of the controversial government body, was sent to Malacañang in February for the President’s approval.
Last year, the Senate passed its own Senate Bill 1620 through an 18-0 vote but decided to fully adopt the lower chamber’s version, thus skipping the need for a bicamercal conference between the two houses to reconcile disparate versions of the proposal.
Pimentel, chair of the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship, was a key proponent of the Road Board’s abolition, filing his own Senate Bill 114 in 2017.
“COA flagged the Board for such ills in a scathing 2017 report. I’m very satisfied that this government body has now ceased to exist.”
“With the Road Board, we created an agency that evolved into the center of political patronage and inefficiency. COA (Commission on Audit) flagged the Board for such ills in a scathing 2017 report. I’m very satisfied that this government body has now ceased to exist.”
Republic Act No. 11239 provides that funds collected under the Act shall be earmarked soley for the construction, upgrading, repair and rehabilitation of roads, bridges and road drainage to be included in the annual General Appripriations Act.
“The funds will further fuel the Build Build Build program of the administration. We’re optimistic and hopeful that our infrastructure projects nationwide will move faster with the new law,” Pimentel noted.
