Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Monday the Senate will discuss the suggestion of House Majority Floor Leader Rolando Andaya that the bicameral conference committee meet over the abolition of the Road Board when Congress resumes session on Jan. 14.
Andaya said the House contingent would be ready for a meeting of the committee on the Road Board abolition bill, which they withdrew on the same day the Senate adopted the House version.
“That will be part of our caucus on the 14th. I’m calling for one right after the roll call at 10 a.m.,” Sotto said.
He made the statement even as the Finance department said Monday the abolition of the allegedly corruption-plagued Road Board and the transfer of its funds coming from the Motor Vehicle User Charge to the state’s General Fund was already covered by its original proposal to Congress under the Duterte administration’s comprehensive tax reform program.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said making the current and future funds of the Road Board part of the General Fund would ensure their appropriation was scrutinized by lawmakers as part of the normal budgeting process.
In the House, Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte on Monday appealed to his fellow Bicolanos to support Duterte’s decision last week to have the Road Board abolished and its funds used in part for flood control projects in the disaster-prone areas of the Bicol region.
“I call on my fellow Bicolanos to give their 100-percent backing to President Duterte’s decision to abolish the graft-ridden Road Board, more so after his commitment in CamSur last week to put the Board’s multi-billion-peso funds to better use,” Villafuerte said.
Earlier, Sotto said as far as the Senate was concerned the Road Board was as good as abolished.
“We adopted the House version, it’s as good as a bill that is supposed to be transmitted to the President already and I’m sure the President will sign it,” Sotto said.
He said when July 1 comes, the Senate will file a new abolition if the House does not believe that the Road Board has already been abolished and they will abolish it again.
The Senate on Sept. 12 last year adopted the House version to dispense with the bicameral conference. Later that day, the House rescinded its approval on third reading of its own version.
In 2017, the President called on Congress to abolish the Road Board and transfer its functions to an appropriate department. Both houses have responded by immediately passing their own versions of the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon insisted on Wednesday that there was no need to convene a bicameral conference committee on the abolition of the Road Board.
“With all due respect to Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, the Senate has already taken the position that the bill to abolish the Road Board is already approved by virtue of its adoption of House Bill 7436 on Sept. 12,” Drilon said.
He said this position was reflected in Resolution 134, which he proposed and the Senate adopted shortly before it went on a Christmas break on Dec. 13, urging the Office of the President not to release funds from the motor vehicle user’s charge following Congress’ passage of the bill which would abolish the Road Board.
“Convening a bicam has no basis when there are no inconsistent or disagreeing provisions,” Drilon said.
“When we adopted the House bill on Sept. 12, there were no more disagreeing provisions.” With Julito G. Rada and Maricel V. Cruz