Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. has expressed strong support for transferring management of the Tatag ng Imprastruktura para sa Kapayapaan at Seguridad (TIKAS) program from the Department of Public Works and Highways to the Department of National Defense or the AFP itself.

Sen. Win Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, raised the proposal to move the P3-billion TIKAS budget from DPWH to DND during deliberations for the 2026 proposed defense budget.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. supported the move, recommending that incomplete or unsustainable projects be scrapped. He agreed that starting in 2026, funding for TIKAS should be handled by the DND.

The DND earlier vowed to ensure the “judicious use” of TIKAS funds to improve the country’s defense infrastructure priorities.

Brawner echoed this view, telling reporters Friday at Camp Aguinaldo that he is “very much in favor” of having the AFP or DND directly manage TIKAS projects.

Currently, the DPWH releases and implements the TIKAS project funds.

“DPWH handles the planning, bidding, and implementation. For us in the AFP, we only identify what we need — such as barracks, training facilities offices and other infrastructure,” Brawner said in an ambush interview.

He dismissed allegations of “ghost” projects under TIKAS.

“Once we give DPWH our requirements, they return with the plans, and we can see for ourselves that these are being carried out,” he said.

“We are the end user. Right now, we’re only the recipient and end user, but under that proposal, I am very much in favor — so that we can ensure there will be no ghost projects and that the projects will truly be of high quality,” he added.

Brawner said the AFP would make sure qualified contractors are hired and that implementation is done properly if AFP engineers are unable to handle the projects themselves.

He clarified that under the current setup, DPWH oversees the entire process — from planning to implementation and inspection — while the AFP simply identifies its infrastructure requirements.

He also explained that some seemingly incomplete projects may only appear so because of phased construction, such as the multi-story Army headquarters building in Fort Bonifacio.

“For example, a 10-story building cannot be completed in a year, so DPWH divides it into phases,” he said. “A single phase may be completed, but the entire project spans several years.”

“The funds are released to DPWH; they handle everything — even the inspections. Once the project is completed, that’s when they turn it over to us,” Brawner said.

Despite challenges, he noted that the AFP has already benefited from completed TIKAS projects, including the grandstand at Camp Aguinaldo and several facilities at the 4th Infantry Division headquarters in Cagayan de Oro City.

Brawner said the AFP will submit to the Senate a list of all unfinished TIKAS projects and urged the DPWH to prioritize their completion.