Senators Loren Legarda and Bam Aquino on Monday proposed on Monday an across-the-board cut in all infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for 2026 in light of the systematic overpricing revealed by recent corruption scandals.
Legarda and Aquino floated the suggestion at a Senate subpanel on finance’s hearing on the proposed 2026 budget of the DPWH.
Legarda first brought up the matter, asking Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon if he and his team would consider it reasonable to implement a 25 to 30 percent across-the-board cut on all DPWH infrastructure line items.
Legarda said this could be a ‘temporary corrective measure’ in the 2026 budget, so that the 2027 funding would be more ‘scientific.’
‘It seems only right that the changes should not happen in 2027. It can’t wait because the people have already paid taxes, and those taxes are what we use for the infrastructure we’re going to build. If we say, ‘Well, we didn’t do that, it’s still for 2027′ – then I won’t be able to sign off on the 2026 General Appropriations Act if we don’t lower the prices of the line items,’ Legarda said in Filipino.
So this across-the-board move is a good indication that we are serious about reforming our budgetary process,’ she added.
Dizon admitted that some projects of the DPWH were indeed found to be overpriced by more than 20 percent, but instead of recommending an across-the-board budget cut, the DPWH chief said a targeted budget adjustment would be better.
‘Prices are different in the National Capital Region, different in Cebu, different in Palawan, and different in Mindoro. But clearly, there is overpricing. So what we are doing now is going through them one by one – examining each region individually to identify which items are overpriced,’ said Dizon.
Dizon said they are ‘going through the process already,’ adding that they would be announcing a recommendation in the next few weeks.
‘If you will allow us, maybe we can announce this once we are committee-ready. We’ve only been here for just a little over a month, but the team has already made immense progress in its effort and I think very soon we’ll be coming out with a – not just an across-the-board, but a region-by-region adjustment in the cost of materials throughout the country,’ said Dizon.
Later, when it was time for him to question the DPWH budget, Sen. Aquino said the across-the-board budget cut might be warranted if the Senate could not see changes in the agency in terms of addressing overpricing.
‘Because if there’s overpricing, we won’t be able to sign off in good conscience knowing that the design and cost of materials are overpriced. But since the budget isn’t due until December – and as you know, it usually reaches the third week of December – there’s still time,’ Aquino said in Filipino.
Aquino said he likewise told former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan to resubmit their list of projects as well as their prices, particularly asking the ex-DPWH chief to fix overpriced projects because the Senate is ‘very open to accepting a resubmitted budget detailing all the projects’ it wants to do.
Now, Aquino made the same appeal to Dizon.
‘Let’s remove the fat. Let’s take out the overpriced items, let’s focus on the right projects, and let’s do the right thing. I know that’s not easy, but we have time. Now, if that can’t be done, I will support a 20 percent cut in the budget just to make sure that fat – the one used for parking, kickbacks, and all sorts of things – is gone,’ he said.
‘Let’s remove that. Let’s go for the real, actual prices of these projects, because that’s what the people truly deserve,’ he pointed out.