Lacson to Dizon: Admit errors in DPWH budget cut

MANILA, Philippines—  Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson believes Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon should own the alleged errors in the computation of cost reduction on the agency’s 10,000 infrastructure projects next year.

Putting the blame on the Senate would only result in a “deadlock,” Lacson told reporters on Tuesday.

When the Senate was deliberating on the proposed P6.793-trillion  budget for 2026,  the senator recalled that Dizon was very “emphatic” to reduce the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) budget  by 25 percent, which is nearly P54 billion.

From the  House of Representatives’ approved P624.4 billion, the agency’s budget  was then slashed to P570.4 billion in the Senate.

“Tapos ngayon merong haggling somewhere in between, sabi ko hindi pwe-pwede,” Lacson said.

(And now there’s haggling somewhere in between, and I said that’s not allowed.)

“In the first place, mag  admit muna si Sec. Vince na nagkamali sila  ng computation which he has not done so far at makiusap siya sa amin na kung pwedeng mag reconsider kasi nga mali ang computation nila,” he added.

(In the first place, Secretary Vince should first admit that they made a mistake in their computation, which he has not done so far, and ask us if we could reconsider because their computation was wrong.)

When told that it was the Senate that made the  wrong computation, Lacson said: “Yan nga magpapalala  dyan. Magde-deadlock  tayo pagka ganyan.”

(That would only make things worse. We’ll end up in a deadlock if that happens.)

“Hindi kami papayag kasi hindi kami nagkamali, we just took the lead  based on their pronouncements, Secretary Vince, the President no less. We took the cue from them.”

(We won’t agree because we didn’t make the mistake. We just took the lead based on their pronouncements—Secretary Vince, no less, and the President. We simply took our cue from them.)

“Sila naman ang nakakaalam ng  computation e kung saan makakatipid sa CMPD (Construction Materials Price Data).  Bakit  ngayon ipapasa sa amin yung pagkakamali,  kami ba ang nag compute nun?” the senator further said.

(They are the ones who know the computation, that is, where savings can be made in the CMPD (Construction Materials Price Data). So why are they putting the blame on us? Did we do the computation?)

Senate Presiden Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian,  who heads the Senate conferees in the bicam, also stood firm that the  mistake in the computation was made by the DPWH.

“Hindi kami nagkakamali, wala kaming mali,” Sotto said in an interview at the Senate.

(We did not make any mistakes; we did nothing wrong.)

In fact, he said, he received a notice that Dizon is already  drafting a letter “admitting to the error.”

But what if that supposed letter would not  reach the Senate? then Sotto said: “Di wala, deadlock.”

(So there’s nothing we can do—it’s a deadlock.)

Gatchalian also insisted that the P45 billion cut in the DPWH infrastructure projects was based on the adjustment factors that the DPWH provided the upper chamber.

“Hindi kami nagkamali dahil nanggaling ho sa kanila yung  computation, inapply lang namin,” Gatchalian said in a press briefing.

(We didn’t make a mistake because the computation came from them; we just applied it.)

“In fact, pumunta pa dito ang mga representatives  ng DPWH para makipag coordinate sa amin kaya kampante kami na yung application namin ay naayon sa dokumento na ibigay sa amin ng DPWH,”  he said.

(In fact, the DPWH representatives even came here to coordinate with us, so we are confident that our application was in accordance with the documents provided to us by the DPWH.)

Because of this issue, the  conferees from the House of Representatives fear  that this could affect the implementation of the DPWH’s projects,  Gatchalian said.

The Senate maintains that their application of the adjustment  factors as suggested by the DPWH  was correct. /gsg