Gov’t eyeing road user’s tax for Manila Bay cleanup

Malacañang on Tuesday said the government is planning to use the road user’s tax to fund an environmental cleanup and rehabilitation of Manila Bay.

This will happen once the Road Board, which manages the road user’s tax collections, is abolished, Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

The accumulated amount of road user’s tax is estimated at P45 billion.

The board is a collegial body composed of the secretaries of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Transportation (DOTr), Budget and Management (DBM), and Finance (DOF), as ex officio members, and three representatives of private transport organizations. The secretary of Public Works and Highways is the ex officio chairman of the Road Board.

Congress could appropriate the funds for rehabilitation works, estimated to cost around P47 billion, according to the Department of Budget and Management. 

Apart from Manila Bay rehabilitation, the President and the Cabinet approved during their 33rd meeting on Monday to use the road user’s tax to finance hospital needs and help storm victims in Bicol Region.

Republic Act 8794, or An Act Imposing a Motor Vehicle User’s Charge on Owners of All Types of Motor Vehicles, mandates the Road Board to implement prudent and efficient management and use of the special funds.

The funds must be earmarked solely for adequate road maintenance and improvement of road drainage, adequate traffic light and road safety devices, and air pollution control at both the national and provincial levels.

Duterte wants the Road Board abolished, as it has turned into a “milking cow” of corrupt politicians.

Secretary Roy Cimatu earlier said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will begin the rehabilitation of Manila Bay this January.

Cimatu was reported to have called the nearly 2,000-square kilometer body of water a “magnified cesspool” with high coliform level of 330 million most probable number (MPN) per 100 milliliters, compared with the safe level of 100 MPN/100ml.

The rehabilitation calls for a change in approach as the bay’s water quality has not improved despite a Supreme Court mandamus for cleanup issued in December 2008.

“We are putting up a Manila Bay command center, we will get the local government units more involved, and we will be more aggressive in enforcing environmental laws, particularly against the discharge of untreated wastewater into the bay,” Cimatu said. —VDS, GMA News