MORE than 11,000 projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will be published on the agency’s Transparency Portal for public scrutiny as part of reforms to strengthen accountability in the use of government funds.
DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon told The Manila Times on Friday that the move is part of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to keep the agency’s projects for 2027 open to the public.
“This is the people’s money, so we must be transparent,” Dizon said.
The DPWH chief stressed that each project must have complete requirements, undergo proper evaluation, and address the actual needs of communities before being included in the budget.
“The projects must have complete requirements, be thoroughly studied, and genuinely respond to the needs of our fellow citizens,” the top DPWH official said.
He said that the agency would post the requirements for every project on the Transparency Portal so that taxpayers could see where public funds are being spent and monitor the projects once implementation begins.
“We will post all the requirements of each project so that people will see where their taxes are going, and so they can monitor the projects once implementation starts,” he said.
The disclosure plan came as the House of Representatives approved the DPWH’s proposed P644-billion budget for 2027 following nearly five hours of plenary deliberations.
Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco expressed support for the agency and praised its leadership for promoting transparency in the use of public funds.
Minority floor leader Marcelino Libanan also commended the DPWH leadership for prioritizing needs-based projects in the 2027 budget.
Dizon said the DPWH budget will be part of the proposed 2027 national appropriation, which the Senate will deliberate before the two chambers reconcile their respective versions. He thanked lawmakers for supporting a higher agency budget next year.
In 2026, the DPWH has P530.9 billion, or P114 billion less than next year’s budget.
