So this is where our Road User's Taxes are going

From Malaya:

THE United Opposition yesterday accused the administration of releasing P2.2 billion in road users tax to congressmen to kill the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo.

Rep. Rolex Suplico (LDP, Iloilo) showed copies of Special Allotment Release Orders issued by the Department of Budget and Management covering P90 million for Rep. Remedios Petilla (Lakas, Leyte), P65 million for Rep. Anthony Miranda (Kampi, Isabela), and P50 million for Rep. Reynaldo Aquino (Lakas, Pampanga).

He said the three SAROs are just the tip of the iceberg of fund releases to congressmen.

He said he would identify the other beneficiaries of the road users tax as soon as he gets more documents from an "asset."

More here:

GMA grants solons P90M each to kill impeach complaint
DESPERATE ARROYO CALLS CONGRESSMEN PERSONALLY FOR AMENDED CHARGE’S DISMISSAL

By Dona Policar and Gerry Baldo
Tuesday, 08 23, 2005

This is where road users' taxes are going: Not to the rehabilitation of the pockmarked roads nationwide but to congressmen who will support the dismissal of an amended impeachment complaint filed against President Arroyo.

The President was said to have called each congressman personally to pledge more multi-million goodies going the way of the anti-impeachment representatives who will stay firm in their decision not to sign the impeachment complaint filed by the political opposition.

Rewards and more rewards were said to already have reached the hands of congressmen who vowed not to support the amended impeachment complaint.

This wholesale bribery was disclosed yesterday as the pro-impeachment congressmen announced the names of their colleagues whom they said have already received their rewards from Malacañang courtesy of the road users' tax.

At a press conference held yesterday, Rolex Suplico, House senior deputy minority leader, said rewards and concessions were already given to some administration congressmen, almost immediately after the the “Hello Garci” controversy surfaced.

Suplico added the administration lawmakers have been rewarded as much as P90 million in funds from the road users' tax to kill the impeachment complaint against the President.

House Minority Leader Francis Escudero said more and more congressmen also had been receiving calls from Mrs. Arroyo during the past several days even as he warned the President that her move is impinging on the independence of Congress and the credibility of the entire impeachment process.

“I think Mrs. Arroyo should be cautioned against calling members of Congress and urging them not to support the impeachment complaint. That is impinging upon the independence of Congress and the credibility of the entire process,” Escudero said during the same press conference.

He added he has no personal knowledge of the conversations between Mrs. Arroyo and the lawmakers but there are many congressmen who told them that Mrs. Arroyo had personally talked to them over the phone, pleading with them not to sign the amended impeachment complaint.

South Cotabato Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio noted that Mrs. Arroyo was also calling even members of the congressmen's families, their governors and mayors.

“It's not just the congressmen whom she (Mrs. Arroyo) calls. Even the whole family members are being called by her for the same purpose. It is she who personally makes the calls,” Antonino-Custodio said, adding only a few remaining lawmakers have yet to receive a call from the President.

It was also disclosed by the minority congressmen that aside from Mrs. Arroyo, Efraim Genuino of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. was also said to have been calling the lawmakers, with the same plea and the same handsome offers.

Escudero mentioned that those who already signed the impeachment complaint had turned her down while others who had not signed “took Mrs. Arroyo for a ride,” but signed the impeachment complaint later.