DPWH given until Oct. 31 to check 2026 budget for repeat projects

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon gestures during the proposed 2026 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways at the Senate in Pasay City on October 20, 2025. INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — A Senate subpanel on finance has given the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) until Oct. 31 to verify whether the agency’s 2026 budget contains repeating line items or projects from the 2025 budget.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate subpanel on finance, asked Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon if the agency had detected any duplicate items in the 2026 budget.

According to Dizon, given the time provided by the committee, the DPWH was able to review 798 out of 946 projects that were earlier flagged as potential duplicates.

READ: Gatchalian: P271-B `red flag’ projects in DPWH 2026 budget

“There were a total of 946 projects that were identified, amounting to P14.455 billion. We are here to report to the committee that as of yesterday, we were able to provide validation and justification of 798 out of the 946 projects roughly amounting to P11.656 billion out of the P14.455 billion,” Dizon said during the Senate Subcommittee A’s Monday hearing on the DPWH’s budget for 2026.

The DPWH chief said the 798 projects reviewed were “continuation projects” that required additional funding for completion.

“We noticed that many of these are continuations of previously funded projects that did not receive enough allocation to be completed. Now, it is clear—based on the photos, geotags, and straight-line diagrams presented—that these are indeed continuation projects,” Dizon explained in Filipino.

He added that the DPWH was unable to validate all 946 projects but would leave it to the committee’s discretion to remove any unverified items if necessary.

“But if you give us more time, we will do our best to validate, justify, and provide details similar to what we have already submitted,” Dizon said.

Gatchalian said the committee could allow the DPWH more time to finish its verification, provided the agency can confirm that none of the 798 validated projects are repeated items.

Dizon assured the panel that none of the verified projects were duplicates, but said he could not make the same assurance for the remaining 148 projects.

READ: Senators find ‘red flags’ in DPWH 2026 budget

“What I mean is, if your initial review found no actual repeated items—and in good faith these are all continuation projects—then we can give you until Friday to complete the validation,” Gatchalian said in Filipino.

“By Wednesday, our Technical Working Group will begin its sessions, so we’ll schedule the DPWH toward the end to give you more time, as long as there’s no indication of bad faith,” he added.

Dizon thanked Gatchalian for granting the extension, saying he would instruct DPWH implementing units to continue the validation process.

While he could not yet confirm whether the remaining projects contain additional red flags, Dizon assured the subpanel that the DPWH would formally notify them if any repeating line items are found./mcm