Palace supports charges vs Ebdane, Puno over road tax mess

Malacañang on Tuesday expressed support to Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago's recommendation to file plunder charges official involved in the alleged misuse of P60.5 billion road users' tax. Among the personalities Santiago wanted charged for the anomaly are former Public Works chief and presidential aspirant Hermogenes Ebdane and former Road Board executive director Rodolfo "Dodi" Puno. According to Press Undersecretary Anthony Golez, leveling charges against the two would give them the chance to defend themselves at a proper forum and save them from trial by publicity. Filing of charges against the two would also end speculations that Santiago was merely doing a political vendetta against Puno’s brother, Interior and Local Government Sec. Ronaldo Puno, the senator's political nemesis.

“Siguro po lahat ng sinasabi nyong political or personal undertones, mawawala po iyan pag ang isyu ay naging kaso. Diyan natin malalaman kung meron nga ba o walang ebidensya laban sa mga taong inaakusahan," said Golez. (Maybe all of these political undertones would die down once this issue formally becomes a case. And from there we would know if there are evidence against the accused.) In her sponsorship speech for Resolution 1413 on Monday, Santiago called on Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to look into the allegations and investigate the two officials over the alleged misuse of the road users’ tax, as she asked her colleagues to support her call to slap Puno and Ebdane and other Road Board officials with plunder and graft charges. 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 tax from road users. Ebdane was dragged into the issue in his capacity as head of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Puno said the charges against him were “unfounded." "I am confident that I will be vindicated from all these unfounded charges. Senator Santiago is aware that it was beyond my authority to allocate and disburse funds for projects. Hopefully this is not an attempt to exact political vendetta against my brother," Puno said. The road tax is the government’s third largest source of tax revenue after taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC). From 2001 to 2009, the road fund amounted to P60.5 billion. Under the law, proceeds of the road user’s tax should be used for road maintenance and improvement of road drainage; installation of adequate and efficient traffic lights and road safety devices; and air pollution control. At present, the road user’s tax, which is part of a vehicle’s annual registration fee, is not included in the national budget. It is collected and deposited in four special trust accounts in the national treasury. - GMANews.TV