PNCC told to remit toll collection to govt

The Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) should be remitting its toll collection to the national government after its franchise expired in 2007, Senator Franklin Drilon said Monday. Drilon, chairman of the Senate finance committee, said that revenue earned by the state-run PNCC from the operations of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) should be remitted to the national treasury. “Our position is that the PNCC, since it no longer has a franchise, has no business appropriating for itself the 6 percent which is part of the toll collection in the NLEX and 1.75 percent in SLEX," he told reporters in an interview on Monday. Drilon said PNCC was granted a 30-year franchise under Presidential Decree 113, which was later amended by Presidential Decree 1894. The same franchise expired on April 30, 2007. PNCC president and chief executive officer Maria Theresa Defensor said they are entitled to about P300 to P400 million annually in NLEX operations and P60 million yearly in SLEX. But Drilon disputed the state firm's claim that the toll collection was part of a “commercial agreement" between them and private tollway operators, saying the share granted to PNCC was just a royalty fee. The Department of Finance (DOF) had also earlier asked PNCC to remit to the state coffers some P7.1 billion in toll revenues collected since May 1, 2007, representing collections after its franchise expired on April 30 that same year. - Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMANews.TV