Secretary Vince Dizon appealed to the bicameral conference committee to restore P45 billion in the Department of Public Works and Highways' 2026 budget. He argued that the Senate's reductions were based on flawed calculations regarding construction costs. Thousands of projects could be scaled back if the funding is not reinstated.
On Monday, December 15, Secretary Vince Dizon stated in an interview on ANC's "Headstart" that the Senate's approval of a lower P570.48-billion budget for the Department of Public Works and Highways involved miscalculations. "We believe that the way the Senate reduced the budgets for projects, roughly 10,000 projects all over the country, was not accurate," he said. He explained that the material cost reductions were misapplied uniformly across all projects, despite varying prices, such as the 68-70% overpricing of asphalt in Region 4B.
Dizon warned that without restoring the P45 billion, approximately 10,000 projects risk incomplete implementation, potentially requiring changes to specifications, for instance, reducing a 10-kilometer asphalting project to 4 or 5 kilometers. "It would be a waste of what would be lost, and at the same time a waste of the laborers who could have been hired, as well as the economic activity that would have been generated," he remarked in Filipino.
His appearance at the bicameral proceedings over the weekend was unusual for an executive branch member, but he was invited by House Appropriations Chair Mikaela Suansing and Senate Finance Committee Chair Sherwin Gatchalian. Meanwhile, the People's Budget Coalition, through technical adviser AJ Montesa, criticized the late appeal, urging an itemized list of affected projects. "They should have done the due diligence of giving us an itemized list so we can see what specific projects we are talking about," Montesa said. He also questioned the hearing delays, which hinted at closed-door meetings undermining transparency.
Gatchalian announced the postponement of Monday's hearing to seek clarifications on the DPWH budget issues. Dizon acknowledged that the final decision lies with Congress, but the executive must voice its concerns.
