Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon on Sunday defended the agency’s request to restore cuts to its proposed 2026 budget, telling lawmakers he understands why public trust in the department suffered following revelations of massive corruption involving ghost or substandard flood control projects.
Speaking before the bicameral conference committee, Dizon clarified that the DPWH is not seeking to revive infrastructure projects that were removed from the proposed 2026 budget.
Instead, he said the request relates only to adjustments arising from the application of updated Construction Materials Price Data (CMPD), which would result in lower material costs.
“Unang-una, hindi po totoo na ibinabalik na po ng DPWH yung dating presyo. Hindi po totoo ‘yun…Ang presyo na ibinababa natin ay hindi ibabalik sa lumang mas mataas na presyo. At sa tingin ko po, sa reporma ng Pangulo, hindi na ito maibabalik in the future,” Dizon said during deliberations on the proposed ₱6.793-trillion national budget.
“Ikalawa, wala pong ibang project na ipinapabalik ang DPWH. Wala po. Whether flood control project o kahit anong project. Wala pong laman yung ating kasulatan kay Senator Win Gatchalian at sa House contingent, na nagsasabi na ipinapabalik natin ang iba’t-ibang mga proyekto. Wala tayong pinapabalik na kahit anong proyektong tinanggal whether ayan ay flood control, tulay, kalye, multi-purpose building,” he added.
The Senate earlier reduced the DPWH’s proposed 2026 budget to ₱570.48 billion from the ₱624.48 billion approved by the House of Representatives.
In an earlier statement, the DPWH said its motion for reconsideration was filed to ensure the proper application of the new CMPD and to avoid inaccurate costing that could make projects unimplementable, potentially leading to underspending and legal or administrative issues.
Dizon stressed the importance of sustaining infrastructure spending to keep the economy moving.
“Ang hinihiling lang po natin is yung binawas na P45 billion approximately, ibalik po ulit para ma-implement po ito nang tama,” he said.
“While it is true that the President told me and instructed me to bring down the prices of materials in order to eliminate overpricing, he also is very conscious of our desperate need to ramp up our infrastructure spending and our infrastructure implementation.”
“Our fear is that the cut made using our adjustment factors, across the board, across roughly 10,000 projects in the General Appropriations Bill may result inevitably in projects that will end up being unimplementable because of the way that they were applied to the various projects.”