Senate to slash P8.84-B in DPWH projects lacking documents

The Senate will purge P8.84 billion in unsupported infrastructure projects from the Department of Public Works and Highways' proposed 2027 budget, Senate President Win Gatchalian announced Tuesday, following mounting criticism of pork barrel allocations and potentially corruption-prone projects.

The announcement came after the DPWH failed to submit the necessary documents to justify the funding for 295 projects worth P8.84 billion.

Gatchalian’s office review uncovered that an astounding 7,000 DPWH projects, worth a staggering P251 billion, have been flagged for possible issues such as duplication, overlapping, fragmentation, and questionable lump-sum allocations.

Former DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon was later directed to review the list of questionable projects and reportedly found that 295 were either “non-compliant” or lacked supporting documentation.

“The Senate’s mandate is clear: no corresponding documentation, no funding,” Gatchalian asserted.

"The Senate is committed unequivocally in weeding out unsubstantiated line items, including those lacking concrete and verifiable technical support, to ensure that every item in the final version is shovel-ready. Unverifiable line items will not receive a single peso of public funding," the Senate leader pointed out.

Senate finance committee chair JV Ejercito has yet to confirm the budget cut, but Senate President Pro Tempore Tito Sotto told Daily Tribune that it was a “collective decision” of the majority.

During the budget hearing on 25 September, Gatchalian pointed to more than 62 percent, or 7,107, of the total 11,395 DPWH projects as having at least one major budgetary red flag.

These so-called red flags include projects lacking station numbers and geographical coordinates, lump-sum projects, overlapping or fragmented projects, and those with conflicting types of work, among others.

The alleged irregularities were found in the DPWH’s budget in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), the executive department's version of the national budget.

More questionable allocations have emerged in the budget version passed by the House of Representatives, which the Senate finance panel is currently reviewing closely ahead of the plenary deliberations on 23 November.

Senator Ping Lacson’s office found that DPWH projects grew from 11,420 in the NEP to 16,244 in the House-approved General Appropriations Bill after lawmakers allegedly introduced 6,271 new projects without initial vetting by the executive.

A parallel review by budget watchdog People’s Budget Coalition found that House lawmakers allegedly inserted nearly 7,000 infrastructure projects worth a staggering P190 billion, significantly augmenting the DPWH’s budget.

The bulk of the inserted items are allegedly intended for constructing multi-purpose buildings across the country, but no publicly available supporting documents exist.

According to the coalition, the allocation for the multipurpose halls ballooned to P83.7 billion after the House’s augmentation.

The figure is more than double the P41 billion the executive proposed in the NEP, and surpasses allocations for critical sectors like health facilities and classroom construction.

Due to the alleged budget anomalies, Ejercito, backed by Senate leadership, launched an independent review of the House’s GAB, giving the DPWH until 3 November to weed out unsupported infrastructure projects.