Secretary Vince Dizon has renewed his call for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to hire young professionals as part of the agency’s sweeping reforms.

Speaking at a recently concluded job fair at Batangas State University–Pablo Borbon Campus, Dizon urged fresh engineering graduates to take part in efforts to reform the DPWH.

“We need you. I know some of you may be afraid to join the government because of corruption and inefficiency. But if you don’t join the government, then who will do the work? Who else? We need you,” Dizon told students and alumni who attended the job fair on Monday.

The recruitment drive is part of the agency’s efforts to dismantle the so-called “palakasan” or patronage system within the DPWH.

This followed the issuance of Department Order 18, which seeks to strengthen merit-based hiring and promotion of DPWH personnel nationwide.

Earlier, Dizon called on young Filipinos and fresh graduates to join the agency during the first DPWH Campus Job Fair at Mapúa University in Intramuros, describing it as a “golden opportunity” for young engineers to be part of the solution.