Sen. Alan Peter S. Cayetano (File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday criticized the proposed P256.7-billion funding of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for repairs of roads, bridges, and dikes in 2023, which, he said, seemed to indicate the poor quality of its infrastructure projects over the years.
During Senate plenary deliberations on the proposed 2023 budget of the DPWH, Cayetano noted that the funding for “maintenance and rehabilitation” dwarfed the agency’s P140-billion allocation for new public infrastructure next year.
“If we add all the funding for individual items for maintenance and rehabilitation, this is more than P200 billion, which is like almost a third of the entire DPWH budget. This is not a ‘Build Better More’ budget; this is ‘Maintenance pa More’ budget,” he said.
From BBB to BBM
Cayetano raised the issue as the Senate debated DPWH’s proposed P737.3-billion budget in 2023, now billed as the “Build Better More” program, after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s initials, from the previous administration’s “Build Build Build” program.
He noted that DPWH’s “asset preservation program,” a technical term for maintenance and rehabilitation, only had half of the budget for a“network development program” in the General Appropriations Acts of 2019, 2020, and 2021.
“Then there [must be] something wrong with the kind of public works that we do, because if we are doing a one-is-to-one preservation of the projects that we build, it could only mean that either it is poorly done, or that the structure is already too old,” Cayetano said.
He acknowledged that the projects intended for maintenance works originated from the Duterte administration that began in 2016.
Inconsistent
With the way the DPWH apportioned its share of the budget for 2023, it seemed to be more concerned about repair works, Cayetano said, adding that this was inconsistent with Marcos’ directive.
“You’ll have to inform the president because he was expecting that it will be ‘Build Better More,’ not ‘Better Better Maintenance,” Cayetano said, indirectly addressing DPWH officials.
Cayetano also questioned why the DPWH was seeking a total funding of P1.5 billion for maintenance even for newly constructed foreign-assisted projects.
“So why will you have preventive maintenance for a project that you are still doing? Isn’t it that preventive maintenance supposed to be for projects that have already been completed?” he asked.
Cayetano added that upon poring over the 2023 budget of the DPWH line by line, he spotted many smaller items scattered in various categories intended for “maintenance, repair, and retrofitting works.”
The senator urged the DPWH to lean toward building new infrastructure, especially in regions in need of better roads and bridges.