{"id":194473,"date":"2018-12-18T04:30:56","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T09:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=194473"},"modified":"2018-12-18T04:30:56","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T09:30:56","slug":"duterte-to-sign-bill-abolishing-road-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/12\/18\/duterte-to-sign-bill-abolishing-road-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte to sign bill abolishing Road Board"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\u201cYes. That has been the position (of the President),\u201d Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said when asked during a Palace press briefing if Duterte intends to sign the bill once he receives it.
(File Photo<\/a>: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte will sign into law a bill abolishing irregularities-ridden Road Board \u201cas soon as\u201d it is submitted to him, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. That has been the position (of the President),\u201d Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said when asked during a Palace press briefing if Duterte intends to sign the bill once he receives it.<\/p>\n

Panelo said the Palace is still against the release of the PHP45-billion road user\u2019s tax or known as the motor vehicle user\u2019s charge (MVUC).<\/p>\n

\u201cGanun pa rin. Di pa nagbabago. (It will remain. It has not changed). We are against it, the release,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Road Board was created in 2000 through Republic Act 8794 to efficiently manage the MVUC funds.<\/p>\n

Panelo said the road user\u2019s tax should be returned to the Treasury and \u201cthen let Congress appropriate again for specific purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the Palace\u2019s support for abolition of the Road Board was based on Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno\u2019s conversation with the President about the alleged corruption in the Board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the explanation of Secretary Diokno,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Panelo, however, clarified he is not privy on the details of what Diokno had discussed with the President about the alleged misuse of MVUC funds.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Panelo refused to give “categorical statement” on former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez\u2019s claim that the Road Board abolition has something to do with some congressmen\u2019s call to fire Diokno over alleged insertions in the PHP3.7-trillion proposed 2019 national budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know exactly the reason why. That\u2019s the statement of former speaker Alvarez. We can only speculate,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Last September, the Senate passed and adopted the House bill filed by Alvarez, seeking the Road Board\u2019s abolition.<\/p>\n

Alvarez reportedly said lawmakers have been earning huge kickbacks from road projects funded by the road user\u2019s tax.<\/p>\n

He said House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo\u2019s allies, who recently filed House resolution asking Duterte to “reconsider” the appointment of Diokno, wanted to control the proceeds of the MVUC.<\/p>\n

Arroyo, former president and now Pampanga congresswoman, ousted Alvarez in a power play that broke out before Duterte\u2019s 3rd State of the Nation Address last July.<\/p>\n

Panelo reiterated that the Palace stands by the integrity and competence of Diokno as public official for the last 32 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reputation of Secretary Diokno is solid. In 32 years of his service, there is nothing we can throw to him. He is known to be one of those who say “no” to irregularities or to any favor he asked of it and he has been consistent that,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte will sign into law a bill abolishing irregularities-ridden Road Board \u201cas soon as\u201d it is submitted …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":186205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-jelly-musico","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}