DPWH projects flagged for multiple funding

ONE PROJECT, MULTIPLE FUNDING | Senators are baffled why several items in the 2024 budget of DPWH received “double, triple, quadruple and even quintuple” funding. These include road and flood control projects. (Photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III and Sen. Grace Poe flagged on Tuesday several instances of “redundant” funding for similar projects, including roads, flood control dikes, and multipurpose buildings, in the proposed 2024 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Pimentel was baffled by how the DPWH handles situations when confronted with multiple entries of funding for a single project in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

“This is one aspect of the budgeting process that we can perhaps improve over time because there seems to be no detailed program of works for these projects, which means no study was made for these projects,” he said.

Pimentel raised the issue as the DPWH presented before the finance panel chaired by Sen. Sonny Angara its proposed P822.2-billion funding for 2024, lower by P72 billion from its P897.2-billion funding this year.

He noted several items in the agency’s budget that received “double, triple, quadruple, and even quintuple” funding. Among these were a road project in Davao City, which received P60 million and P105 million, and another in Eastern Samar province, which was allotted P58 million, P90 million, and P200 million.

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Project names reworded

“If the amounts swing from a low of P58 million, to P90 million, then P200 million, how much does the project really cost?” Pimentel asked as he noted that in some of the funding items, project names were often reworded supposedly to give the impression that these were different projects.

“One project, for instance, is a ‘road from point A to point B,’ worth so many millions; then another similar project is ‘road from point B to point A,’ so it’s just a matter of which point of view is the reference, but these are essentially the same projects,” he said.

Poe, Senate Committee on Public Services chair, confirmed Pimentel’s observations, as she also flagged road and flood control projects with multiple funding items in the proposed DPWH budget, in addition to several others whose locations were not indicated.

“So I think I have cited [chopped up] projects that are mislabeled. The problem here is that it doubles the potential misuse,” she said.

She likewise questioned why the DPWH had allotted P41.2 billion for multipurpose buildings and only P26.5 billion for the construction of school buildings when the country faces a shortage of 159,000 classrooms.

Projects of congressmen

In response, Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan clarified that in cases where multiple items slipped into the GAA, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) would allow the release of funds from only one item.

“We requested [the funding for the multiple items] from the DBM but they said we can only release a single funding, so if there are two separate allocations, we choose the higher allocation, while the rest [of the funds] would be retained by the DBM,” he said.

Bonoan revealed that in this year’s GAA, the DPWH listed P4.4 billion worth of projects with multiple entries, but the DBM allowed the release of only P2.8 billion.

He also justified the disparity in the funding for multipurpose buildings and classrooms, saying these were considered priority projects of House members.

Senators are baffled why several items in the 2024 budget of DPWH received “double, triple, quadruple, and even quintuple” funding. These include road and flood control projects.