The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) seeks to eliminate the agency’s budget for flood control projects in this year’s budget and reallocate it to the maintenance and construction of major bridges nationwide, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said.

The DPWH’s initial funding for the flood control projects under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) accounted for 30 percent of the agency’s proposed budget of P881.3 billion for 2026.

Dizon told legislators during budget deliberations before the House Committee on Appropriations on Friday that the total allocation for the scandal-plagued program reached as high as P268.3 billion.

This covers the allocation for flood control projects that were already completed, and those with double entries, which pertain to a single project duplicated in the NEP to obtain multiple budgets.

“If [the funds for] some of the flood control projects are not necessary, they can be used for other projects, such as for the maintenance of the Maharlika Highway—our nationwide backbone—and other projects, such as bridges,” Dizon said in response to a query of Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan.

Libanan estimated that of the P881.3 billion proposed budget of the DPWH, the funding for flood control projects is not just P268.3 billion, but could reach as high as P381 billion if each district is allocated P1.5 billion.

Hidden P100-B projects

The House leader also revealed that there is an additional hidden funding of P100 billion for flood control projects under the DPWH, citing a panel’s vice chair, whom he did not name.

“This is the reason why our Maharlika Highway, other existing roads, don’t have good maintenance because all the funds go to flood control,” Libanan said.

The funds allocated for the flood mitigation programs in the previous years, he added, could have been used to fund the Sorsogon-Samar Bridge, which is still under feasibility study as of 2024.

The budget could also bankroll key bridges in Southern Leyte and Mindanao, according to Libanan.

“Why is everything allocated for flood control? What’s the use of this? We should learn to plan properly,” Libanan told Dizon.

The DPWH chief, in response, agreed that there is a need to thoroughly review and reassess the agency’s 2026 budget, specifically for the flood control projects, proposing that it must be rationalized and science-based.

Earlier in the hearing, panel chair Mikaela Suansing suggested using the University of the Philippines’ NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) to help the DPWH identify the red zone areas, where flood control funds should only be allocated.

Red zones are areas that pose a high risk of fatalities—either high flood waters/water levels or high velocity of water flows, Suansing explained.

“This means that only projects that are included in the red zones should be funded. Everything outside of this will be removed from flood control for 2026,” the chair added.

The DPWH has been embroiled in corruption allegations involving the P545-billion flood control projects, prompting a departmental shakeup.

Barely six months in office at the Department of Transportation , Dizon left the DoTr after he was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to replace Manuel Bonoan as head of the corruption-plagued DPWH.

Bonoan had been on the receiving end of mounting accusations of incompetence and complicity in the alleged systematic corruption within the agency.

Citing Marcos, Dizon believes that anomalies wouldn’t occur in the DPWH unless there was collusion involving officials at the highest levels.

DPWH’s district engineers are being accused of complicity with private contractors and members of Congress to manipulate flood control projects for kickbacks.

Marcos had inspected several flood control projects across the country, only to discover that some were ghost or non-existent, despite being declared “completed” in the DPWH’s records, while others consisted of substandard works.