Tourism road funds cut, DoT pleads case

Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco revealed that despite their aim to build more tourism roads, the Department of Tourism (DoT) got zero budget allocation for them under the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Being a former mayor of Liloan, Cebu, Frasco said it is innate in her to request basic infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, especially now that she is working double-time to further improve the country’s tourism industry.

“It is important for me, and there’s no other basic project that would change the economy of that destination that would provide accessibility, livelihood, and opportunities. So, from the very beginning, I really tried to fight for more funding for tourism roads,” she said in an interview with reporters.

Frasco said they discovered that since 2016, the government has funded only four continuing road projects, either to expand, rehabilitate, or extend the roads.

“So, it means there were no new road projects. Therefore, it unduly excludes emerging destinations. And because we tried to fight for new roads, the result of that exercise is hopefully, in 2024, we were able to secure, through the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways), around P5 billion for new roads, even if they are funding continuing roads. Unfortunately, beginning in 2025, the funding for new roads was zeroed,” Frasco said.

Further, she said the funding for continuing roads was even slashed to P6 billion from P17 billion, which is what they were asking for when they came in.

“Finally, for 2026, as we did not stop advocating for new roads, we also received zero funding for new roads, while for the continuing roads, they only gave, if I am not mistaken, P3 billion,” she said. “The DoT asked P6 billion for new roads.”

Frasco said they are held to account for many things, but the reality is that funding is beyond their control.

“I have no say on funding for tourism roads because that’s entirely within the sphere of the DPWH. We did speak to Sec. Vince (Dizon), and I told him that the government should give priority to this. To be fair, his commitment is that we will help each other and work on it for the 2027 budget,” she added.

Frasco said most of the projects they are eyeing are not national roads but interior roads that lead to tourism destinations.

“We requested that the national government follow the model of other agencies. For example, for DepEd, the budget for school buildings is lodged with DepEd but executed by DPWH. For the Department of Health, the health facilities enhancement program is given to them, and for the Department of Agriculture, the farm-to-market roads budget is also given to them, but to be executed by the DPWH,” she explained.

During the 2026 budget deliberations at the Senate, under the 2026 National Expenditure Program, there was a P3.5 billion budget for tourism roads under the DPWH for the continuation of tourism road construction.

“What we have asked is that either they will lodge the budget with the DoT or TIEZA, and the DPWH will execute it. Obviously, that didn’t happen in the 2026 GAA. We hope this matter will be addressed in 2027,” she added.