The new leadership of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has welcomed proposals by lawmakers to cut the agency’s budget for flood control projects, amounting to P268.3 billion, and reallocate it for the maintenance and construction of other major bridge programs nationwide.
The DPWH’s initial funding for flood control projects under the National Expenditure Program is pegged at over P249 billion, accounting for 30 percent of the agency’s P881.3-billion proposed budget for 2026.
However, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon told legislators during budget deliberations before the House committee on appropriations on Friday that the total allocation for the scandal-plagued program reaches as high as P268.3 billion.
This covers allocations for flood control projects that were already completed, and those with double entries, which pertain to a single project but are 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 Filipino in response to Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan.
Libanan estimated that of the P881.3-billion proposed DPWH budget, 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.
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 lamented.
The funds allocated for flood mitigation programs in 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 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 posing 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 department shakeup.
Barely six months in office, Dizon left the Department of Transportation after being appointed by President Marcos Jr. to replace Manuel Bonoan to lead the corruption-plagued DPWH.
Bonoan has been on the receiving end of mounting accusations of being incompetent and complicit in the alleged systematic corruption within the agency.
Citing Marcos, Dizon believes that anomalies won’t occur in the DPWH unless there is collusion involving higher-ups.
DPWH 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 are ghost or non-existent despite being declared “completed” on the DPWH’s records, while others are made up of substandard works.
Despite these anomalies, the DPWH is the second agency set to receive the lion’s share of the 2026 budget with P881.3 billion, next to the education sector with P1.224 trillion.