Several solons requested for Road Board funds: document

FILE: Andaya replaced Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas.(Photo: Rolando “Nonoy” Andaya Jr/Facebook)

MANILA – House of Representatives Majority Leader Rolando Andaya has released a document naming several lawmakers who had requested funding for infrastructure projects from the Road Board.

The document released to House reporters by Andaya on Wednesday contained the list of Road Board-approved and ready for release allocations per engineering or legislative district. He claimed that the document came from the Road Board itself.

Andaya insisted that neither he nor Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo requested for Road Board projects or called for the release of its funds.

Some lawmakers who requested projects for the Road Board include former House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, PBA party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles, Kabayan party-list Rep. Ron Salo, ANAC-IP party-list Rep. Jose Panganiban, Isabela Rep. Napoleon Dy, Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., MATA party-list Rep. Tricia Nicole Q. Velasco-Catera, Batangas Rep. Ma. Theresa Collantes, Cavite Rep. Strike Revilla, and 30 others.

Fariñas, however, denied that his district received any Road Board fund under the present administration, noting that he even pushed for the abolition of the graft-ridden agency.

“In fact, it was (former) Speaker (Pantaleon) Alvarez and I who were the principal authors for the abolition of the Road Board, and such was approved on third and final reading under our watch. We, in fact, transmitted the bill officially to the Senate, which adopted our version when it sensed that our new leadership of the HOR (House of Representatives) wanted to recall the bill, which it actually did,” Fariñas told reporters in a group message.

The document showed that Fariñas requested allocations worth almost PHP300 million to fund road projects in his district in Ilocos Norte.

Meanwhile, Nograles admitted that he referred many projects nationwide to all agencies, including the Road Board.

“It is entirely up to the agencies to act on my referred projects. I do not know if there are approvals or disapprovals by the agencies,” he said.

According to the document, Nograles requested funding for eight infrastructure projects for various areas totaling PHP485 million. He does not represent any district.

The bill seeking the abolition of the graft-ridden agency is caught in a deadlock following the clash between the Senate and the House over such proposal.

The Senate has adopted the House version of the bill. but the lower chamber rescinded its own approval of the bill on third reading.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said President Rodrigo Duterte will immediately sign the bill into law once a copy is transmitted to the Palace.