MIRIAM PINS DODIE PUNO FOR "APOCALYPTIC" ROAD TAX SCANDAL

Feisty Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago today called on Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to investigate former Road Board executive director Rodolfo "Dodie" Puno and other officials of the Road Board for what she calls "apocalyptic corruption."

Puno served as executive director of the Road Board from 2005 to 2008.

The Road Board manages and utilizes the Road Fund, which comes from the Motor Vehicle Users' Charge Tax or Road Tax. The Road Tax is the government's third largest source of tax revenue, after taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.

The Road Tax is part of a vehicle's annual registration fee. It is paid by the vehicle owner to the Land Transportation Office (LTO). The LTO remits the fund to the Bureau of Treasury. The fund is not commingled with other funds in the Treasury. Instead, the money is deposited under the following Special Accounts:

(1) Special Support Fund, with 80% share. Its exclusive purpose is to maintain national primary and secondary roads, and to improve the drainage system.

(2) Special Local Road Fund, with 5% share. Its exclusive purpose is to maintain local roads, and to provide the traffic and road safety devices of city and provincial governments.

(3) Special Road Safety Fund, with 7.5% share. Its exclusive purpose is to install road safety devices throughout the country.

(4) Special Vehicle Pollution Control Fund, with 7.5% share. Its exclusive purpose is to institute programs for prevention, control, and management of air pollution from vehicle sources.

From 2001 to 2009, the Road Fund amounted to P60.5 billion.

Citing COA reports, Santiago enumerated in her speech before the Senate today, numerous "unconscionable scandals in the use of the Road Fund." Among these scandals was the "inexplicable" transfer of P332.64 million from the Out-of-School Youth Serving Towards Economic Recovery (OYSTER) program of the Road Board to the Philippine National Police.

Ronaldo Puno is the Secretary of Interior and Local Government, and the brother of Dodie Puno. "This seems to be the only explanation on why the Road Board Oyster Program was transferred to the national police, which is under DILG," Santiago said. "This is a brazen violation of the Road Tax Law, Section 7, which provides that the Road Fund 'shall be earmarked solely and used exclusively for road maintenance and the improvement of road drainage.'"

In her speech, Santiago quoted various newspaper reports on Dodie Puno's allegedly lavish lifestyle. Citing former Senate President Ernesto Maceda's column in the Daily Tribune, she said Dodie Puno is "reportedly the owner of two yachts, expensive cars, luxury condominiums, gives expensive parties and has been totally indiscreet in this moneyed pursuit of movie stars and beauty queens."

"The Road Tax Law is an abject and deadly failure, as proven by the virtual lack of drainage during the killer typhoon Ondoy and its successors in Metro Manila, Rizal, and other provinces listed as calamity areas," Santiago said.

"It is always wrong to be a corrupt public official, but today more than ever, we cannot afford to leave the greedy crook to grab public funds that are mandated by law to improve our roads and to improve our drainage systems," she said. "Because of godless graft and corruption, the crooks in the Road Board and its Executive Secretariat should be held responsible and accountable for the following carnage in our poverty-stricken country: 961 deaths, 90 missing, 756 human physical injuries, and P 38.68 billion worth of properties destroyed."

Santiago asked Congress to amend or even repeal the Road Tax Law, which, according to her, "has proved to be a hotbed of multibillion corruption." Among her proposed amendments is more transparency in the use of the Road Fund.

"The Road Board and DPWH should post on their websites the list of projects programmed for Road Tax funding, based on their planning tool known as HDM-4. They should also put the list of projects actually funded, the actual releases, disbursements, and accomplishments," she said.

Santiago also proposed the reorganization of the Road Board.

"The present composition of four public officials serving ex-officio out of seven members, renders the Road Board dependent on its full-time Executive Director, who becomes a financial despot. Perhaps, as in New Zealand, the Road Board should be composed of road users themselves, without any member from government. In the alternative, the road users should at least be the majority in the Road Board, for better control and accountability," she said.

She also asked Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to "immediately establish an Oversight Committee on the Road Tax, so that at least some form of legislative monitoring could be exercised over this particular giant pot of honey that has attracted so many busy bees."