Gov't urged to use P46B MVUC for road clearing ops

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Thursday urged the national government to tap the P46-billion Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC) collections for road clearing and improvement projects.

Recto said the national government should have “equity” in the road clearing operations it had mandated local governments to undertake.

“Its participation should go beyond issuing orders and deadlines, but must also include contributing to the tools and resources local governments need to rid thoroughfares of obstructions,” he said in a press statement.

He said once roads are cleared of encroachments, the hardest part is to keep them that way.

The senator said one funding source that can augment local efforts are the billions of pesos in unspent MVUC collections, which are car registration fees paid at the Land Transportation Office.

He said unspent MVUC collections stood at P46.25 billion as of December 2018. For 2019, government projects to collect P13.9 billion.

Recto said while the use of the MVUC has been modified by a new law signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on April 8, 2019, it can still be used to complement road clearing operations.

Recto was referring to Republic Act 11239, which abolished the Road Board and earmarked all MVUC collections “solely for the construction, upgrading, repair, and rehabilitation of roads, bridges, and road drainage” that will be specified in the national budget.

“Under these terms of use, kung naglilinis ang lokal na pamahalaan, dapat kasunod na ang DPWH sa pag-aayos ng road drainage, sidewalks, at pag-aspalto at pag-ayos ng mga apektadong bahagi ng kalsada,” he said.

He added the MVUC fund would have been the ideal source for the purchase of road clearing equipment like tow trucks and emergency response vehicles to traffic jam-causing accidents, but “these expenditures are no longer in the menu of the new law amending the use of MVUC.”

“But what national government can do is let MVUC fund some DPWH projects and use the so-called ‘savings’ for programs and projects that will aid local governments in keeping roads safe and clear of blockages,” Recto said.

“Parang internal calculation na lang ‘yan. Offsetting na lang. Kung, say, P5 billion worth of road construction projects ang napondohan ng MVUC, eh di i-apply mo yung P5 billion sa ibang proyekto na pwedeng makatulong sa trabaho ng local governments,” he added.  —KBK, GMA News