PUBLIC Works Secretary Vince Dizon said that the flood control corruption scandal has delayed the completion of government infrastructure projects.
”It’s been a very, very difficult year for the department,” Dizon said on Wednesday during the Senate Finance Committee’s briefing on the proposed 2027 Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget.
He noted that an ongoing investigation into the scam involving DPWH officials, politicians and private contractors has resulted in slower project completion due to stricter oversight.
”In the past, it often happened that even before a project was completed, there were many instances where contractors had already been paid in full,” Dizon said.
Dizon said the scandal exposed the need to overhaul the department’s procedures. He said the reforms were particularly challenging because of the size of the DPWH, which has more than 70,000 personnel nationwide.
”It’s like a large ship — it’s truly difficult to steer an institution of this size. But we have really forced ourselves to begin the reforms,” he added.
Dizon said the proposed P643.95-billion DPWH budget for 2027 covers reforms on safeguards against corruption.
About P200 billion was allocated for the National Road Program, P83.84 billion for locally funded flood management projects, as well as foreign-assisted flood mitigation initiatives.
Dizon said flood mitigation projects that had previously been lodged under other DPWH programs would now be placed under the Flood Management Program to improve transparency and prevent projects from being obscured under different budget classifications.
The locally funded Flood Management Program was proposed at P83.84 billion for 2027, while another P19 billion in flood mitigation projects is included under foreign-assisted programs, bringing total flood management funding to about P103 billion.
Dizon said the locally funded amount was significantly lower than previous allocations, which reached more than P300 billion in 2024 and 2025.
He said the department had scrapped a previous parametric formula in determining project priorities. Under the new system, he said, district and regional offices would prioritize unfinished projects, following the president’s directive.
Senators said the government must restore infrastructure spending without sacrificing accountability, transparency and safeguards against irregularities.
Dizon agreed that the department needed to accelerate project implementation while ensuring that reforms introduced after the scandal remained in place.
