Metro Manila, Philippines – Citing multiple red flags in the proposed 2026 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways, senators are exploring ways to defund questionable items, including the possibility of returning the proposal to the agency for revision.
During a Senate briefing with economic managers on Tuesday, Sept. 2, finance committee chairperson Win Gatchalian flagged recurring issues in infrastructure allocations, including:
+ Projects without station numbers, making them difficult to verify;
+ Duplicate or double entries;
+ Projects split into phases or packages;
+ Rounded-off or estimated amounts;
+ Projects listed with vague code names;
+ Reappearance of projects already funded in 2025.
“Hindi siya clerical error, sinasadya itong ganitong panloloko ilagay sa NEP [This is not a clerical error — this kind of deception was deliberately included in the NEP],” Gatchalian said, referring to the National Expenditure Program submitted by the executive to Congress.
Senator Ping Lacson added that ₱50 billion in projects shared the exact costs, raising questions.
The anomalies prompted Senator Bam Aquino to suggest rejecting the DPWH budget entirely. “Let’s refuse to accept this DPWH budget,” he said.
“I know it’s an uncommon process, but I think for this year we can make an exception to the process where we return the DPWH budget,” he said.
“You have four months to give it back to us na maayos na, wala nang mga ghost projects, wala na pong mga flood control sa mga lugar na wala namang flooding,” he addressed the executive.
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