DBM says DPWH faced toughest budget review

Acting Budget Secretary Kim Robert de Leon said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) faced the toughest scrutiny among government agencies in preparing its proposed 2027 budget as the government intensifies transparency initiatives.

“You can talk to [the] DPWH and I can certainly say, they’ll tell you only one thing about the 2027 budget – they had the hardest time proposing their 2027 budget,” he said at the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX)’s 58th annual conference last Friday.

“Even [DPWH] Secretary Vince [Dizon] mentioned, the district engineers were only able to ensure compliance with all documents because I was really fair.”

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) submitted the proposed P7.2 trillion FY 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP) to both chambers of Congress on 11 August 2026. Deliberations in the House of Representatives and the Senate are underway concurrently.

House Appropriations Chair Mikaela Suansing was seen in tears following the passage of the NEP on second reading last week. Some netizens criticized her reaction amid the corruption controversy surrounding the national budgeting process, which has faced intense government and public scrutiny since last year’s unresolved “floodgate” scandal involving allegations of a systemic, nationwide infrastructure corruption scheme.

De Leon said lingering concerns over public infrastructure spending had prompted stricter DBM oversight in preparing next year’s budget.

“I will never allow any item, particularly those involving the DPWH budget, that is not fully documented, has not gone through the proper process, or cannot be validated by us,” he said.

The DPWH has a proposed budget of P643.95 billion, P113.05 billion, or 21.29 percent, higher than its approved FY 2026 budget of P530.90 billion.

De Leon said so-called “ghost projects” also required stronger oversight and transparency throughout the construction process, from proposal to completion.

“The ghost projects [are] a combination of poor planning and poor execution. But at least we can safeguard the planning side. We can safeguard the documentation side,” he said.

“So we just have to guard the other end, which is the implementation so as to avoid that from happening again.”

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon has said his department is moving away from a system in which projects could enter the proposed budget with little more than a title and a cost. He has also urged the public to scrutinize infrastructure projects to help ensure accountability.

“If you rely solely on the government for these changes to happen, continue to happen, and become irreversible, I think we are setting ourselves up for a massive disappointment,” he said.