P1-B of Cagayan nat’l road user’s tax missing

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Rep. Carlos Padilla, who was the first to spill the beans on the controversial national broadband network deal in the Lower House, said more than P1 billion released for the Cagayan Valley region from the collection of the national road user’s tax in 2004 could not be accounted for.

Padilla said that based on records received by Congress, the amounts were released to the district offices of the Department of Public Works and Highways in the region’s three main provinces – Cagayan, Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya – but that there was nothing to show where the money actually went.

Padilla said the P1 billion was just part of the more than P10 billion released by the Arroyo administration to a number of provinces from the national road user’s tax in 2004, and whose uneven distribution created a uproar among congressmen over the weekend.

“A House investigation was already set next week, especially by the House committee on public works and highways, because many congressmen were angry about this,” Padilla said.

“In fact, some of our colleagues are up in arms because their provinces did not receive even a single centavo from the road user’s tax, while here we (were supposed to) have received more than P1 billion in Cagayan Valley in 2004 and yet we have no idea where the money went,” he said.

“With just the allocation alone, there was already an anomaly,” he added.

Based on Commission on Audit documents, Padilla said Nueva Vizcaya was given P380 million from the national road user’s tax in 2004 for the maintenance of provincial roads.

“But I don’t see any evidence that such an amount was used for the provincial roads of Nueva Vizcaya. If such an amount had been received, then the provincial government would not have so much problem in the maintenance of its local roads,” he said.

He said such was apparently also the case with Isabela and Cagayan where the rest of the more than P1 billion supposedly went.

“If this is true with Cagayan Valley, then possibly the same is true with other areas in the country,” Padilla said.

Padilla said it was important to find out what happened to these funds from the national road user’s tax released in 2004, which was an election year.

“We want to find out where the money went. But I have a feeling that the money may have gone to ghost projects or had been utilized during the 2004 elections,” he said.

Padilla said the “missing” funds were connected with the controversial more than P2 billion in bonuses, which the 70-member secretariat of the Road Users Board gifted themselves with in 2005 and which the Palace is now investigating.

“Whoever utilized the more than P10 billion in government funds intended for road maintenance projects in 2004 would face the consequences,” he said.

Nueva Vizcaya Gov. Luisa Lloren-Cuaresma said the provincial government never received such a huge amount in 2004 or even up to this time.

“If the P380 million had been allocated for the maintenance of our provincial roads in 2004, that would be more than enough for us and we would not have any problem now in maintaining our provincial roads and that the amount we are allocating to maintain them should have been used for education and other social services,” she said.

For his part, Ronald Reyes, DPWH district engineer here, denied that his office ever received the P380 million.

If such an amount had been allocated, Reyes said its utilization could be confined in the national or regional level.

Padilla vowed to uncover those behind the missing share of Cagayan Valley from the national road user’s tax.

“Those behind the P780-million Jocjoc Bolante scam as well as last year’s P271-million rice fund scam already look like small-time pickpockets compared to those involved in this more than P10-billion road user’s tax scam,” he said.

The road user’s tax, or the motor vehicle user’s charge, was created under Republic Act 8794 in 2001.

It is collected as part of the payment of a motor vehicle owner when he registers his vehicle every year with the Land Transportation Office.

The DPWH secretary chairs the Road Users Board, which manages the funds collected that are supposed to be used for road maintenance. -- CL