P480-M road user’s tax abuse ‘just tip of iceberg’ - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

P480-M road user’s tax abuse ‘just tip of iceberg’ - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos


MANILA, Philippines—The head of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has vowed to dig deeper into the apparent misuse of at least P480 million in road user’s tax, “the biggest pork barrel” in government.
Worse, “it seems it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson Tuesday told the Inquirer.
President Benigno Aquino III the other day revealed, among other things, in his first State of the Nation Address that proceeds from the road user’s tax went to “useless [road] projects” nationwide.
Singson said Mr. Aquino was referring only to irregularities that took place last year. “You can imagine [the alleged anomalies] date back to 2001,” he said.
Priority projects ignored
Enacted in June 2000, the road user’s tax law, Republic Act No. 8794, states that the tax is intended for the “adequate maintenance of roads nationwide.” Motorists pay the tax yearly when they renew the registration of their vehicles.
Singson said the DPWH came up last year with a total of 246 projects worth P400.25 million that it submitted to the Road Board, which oversees the road user’s tax.
The board includes the heads of the DPWH, Department of Transportation and Communication, Department of Budget and Management, and Department of Finance, among others.
However, “the board came up with 70 projects which replaced the 246 original projects. Worse, the budget allocation for the 70 projects was bigger, totaling P480 million.”
Singson said no justifications were given for the changes.
A DPWH document furnished the Philippine Daily Inquirer listed other “unexplained changes” in the DPWH project lineup, including the following:
• Ilocos: 11 projects worth P21.18 million were replaced by 7 projects. However, the project cost increased to P50 million.
• Central Luzon: 20 projects costing P43.54 million were replaced by 7 projects worth P59.5 million.
• Bicol: 16 projects costing P28 million were replaced by 4 projects worth P40 million.
• Western Visayas: 16 projects costing P28.2 million were replaced by 4 projects worth P34.5 million.
• Central Visayas: 16 projects costing P24.7 million were replaced by 4 projects worth P28.5 million.
• Eastern Visayas: 15 projects costing P24.8 million were replaced by 5 projects worth P45 million.
• Central Mindanao: 16 projects costing P20.7 million were replaced by 4 projects worth P27 million.
Unexplained reduction
Unexplained reduction in the number of projects and their costs were observed in the following regions:
• Metro Manila: 27 projects originally worth P31.5 million were replaced by 5 projects costing P30 million.
• Cordillera Administrative Region: Nine projects worth P17.5 million were replaced by a single project costing P5 million.
• Cagayan Valley: 11 projects worth P21.1 million were replaced by 3 projects worth only P5.5 million.
• Western Mindanao: 16 projects worth P18.07 million were replaced by 4 projects costing only P7 million.
• Southern Mindanao: 13 projects worth P37.7 million were replaced by a single project costing P5 million.
• Northeastern Mindanao: 11 projects worth P16.1 million were replaced by 3 projects costing P9 million.
• Compostela Valley: 16 projects worth P24 million were replaced by 4 projects costing P15 million.
No changes were made for Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan’s 10 projects worth P16.5 million.
Singson said his office “will have to look at the bigger ticket items just to get an indication of what really happened.”
Roads in S. Luzon, E. Visayas
Clearly, there were irregularities in the selection of the public works projects in question, he said. “Either wrong choice of projects or the costs were padded,” he pointed out.
“Obviously, that’s irregular,” Singson said.
He cited road projects supposedly for implementation in Southern Tagalog.
“The department submitted 23 projects worth P30.7 million. They were replaced by 14 projects and yet the project cost ballooned to P119 million with no justifications given,” Singson said.
Another example he cited were road projects in Eastern Visayas.
“Originally, the agency listed 15 projects costing P24.8 million. They were replaced by five projects worth P45 million,” Singson said.
Singson said the “projects were not selected objectively,” citing documents obtained by his office.
Asked about the culpability of former Road Board officials, Singson said: “I don’t want to prejudge. I will check all documentation, how the funds were spent.”
Plunder charges
Last year, the Senate economic affairs committee recommended the filing of plunder charges against former Road Board executives.
The panel, chaired by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, earlier investigated the body for the alleged misuse of more than P40 billion in road user’s tax.
Santiago claimed that Road Board officials had not accounted for how the proceeds of the tax were spent since 2001.