MANILA -- Members of the Road Board, the body that oversees the multibillion-peso Motor Vehicle User's Tax (MUVC), may soon have to hit the road.
Senator Franklin Drilon wants the board abolished over alleged irregularities on how the MUVC is spent.
The Road Board is authorized to use the MUVC to maintain roads, improve drainage systems, and for road safety and air pollution control projects.
But Drilon said the money has been spent on projects that are not on its charter.
He said the MVUC, also known as the road tax, has even been used to pay for Oyster, a livelihood program for out-of-school youths.
The senator said Oyster was not “a road maintenance project but a political accommodation program”.
The road tax, which amounted to P8 billion last year, has also been used for infrastructure projects not approved by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Drilon said the MUVC was spent on 41 projects worth P360 million that were not approved by the DPWH.
“Somebody is just playing around with this. That is why there is so much flak that the MVUC is getting because of the corruption.”
The MUVC is not included on the national budget and is not subject to Congressional oversight, a situation that Drilon wants changed. (Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)