THE House of Representatives on Wednesday started deliberating the proposed P644 billion budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
The agency’s allocation is the second largest in the 2027 National Expenditure Program.
It includes the P107.4 billion intended for flood control projects. Funding for flood mitigation was scrapped in the 2026 General Appropriations Act following the multibillion-peso corruption in 2025 which led to the filing of criminal charges against several former and incumbent lawmakers and DPWH executives.
Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the agency’s spending plan will undergo strict scrutiny as well as the other departments to ensure public funds will be used for their intended use.
“The budgets of all agencies, not just the DPWH. What is being done right now is a briefing, after which it will be presented to the committee,” Adiong told The Manila Times in Filipino.
“We need specific data as to the allocation per program and per infrastructure programs and what are the big-ticket infrastructures that are to be maintained and rehabilitated. So, we need exact data,” he added.
Public Works and Highways Secretary Vivencio Dizon said the agency has been in the thick of instituting reforms, among them ensuring future allocations will fund key infrastructure projects across the country and not be concentrated in Luzon.
For the past decade, Luzon received 56 percent of project allocations while Mindanao and Visayas were provided 27 and 17 percent, respectively, Dizon said.
“What we tried to do, we wanted to make this more needs-based. We tried our best to really make the budget for 2027 more equitable,” he added.
Adiong said such a frugal approach would prevent taxpayers’ money from going to waste.
“Because that is how you determine the amount of funding that needs to be allocated to solve it,” he added.
Besides the DPWH, the spending plans of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Migrant Workers were also reviewed by the House.
