The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) diverted at least P50 billion from unprogrammed appropriations in the 2024 budget for infrastructure projects, including P30 billion for flood control works, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson disclosed on Tuesday.
‘In 2024 alone, the DPWH diverted P50 billion from unprogrammed appropriations for infrastructure projects, including P30 billion for flood control projects. This means DPWH officials have become comfortable with funding such projects even if this means violating the government’s master plan,’ Lacson said in an interview with radio dzBB.
‘These appropriations were spread throughout several districts. The public fund was abused because of the collusion between some lawmakers and DPWH officials, to the point that lawmakers gave the DPWH bigger funds than the education sector – and in 2025, they continued this practice until it exploded in our faces,’ he added.
Lacson said this reflects how DPWH officials have grown complacent in disregarding the government’s master plan for infrastructure projects.
Lacson stressed that the DPWH must end its practice of ‘playing’ with public funds, particularly the substitution of projects, which he said amounts to technical malversation.
‘When we pass the budget bill, everything is itemized. If you make changes there, that is already technical malversation even if you have not stolen anything yet. Appropriations for a particular item must be properly spent. If not, the funds should go to savings,’ he said.
He added that the Senate will take a firm stance in removing around P42 billion in appropriations for ayuda or social assistance programs from the unprogrammed funds in the 2026 budget bill and retain unprogrammed appropriations only for foreign-assisted projects.
Lacson also questioned why former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan received handwritten ‘memos’ from civilians or non-organic DPWH personnel endorsing certain projects when he headed the agency.
This is the latest in a string of irregularities Lacson uncovered in the DPWH while investigating alleged corrupt practices that led to substandard and ghost flood control projects.
‘I am baffled by the documents I saw, where Bonoan received handwritten memos that turned out to be from civilians or non-organic DPWH personnel. How did these memos, which were scribbled on Post-It notes, get to Bonoan?’ he said.
‘That’s the hard part. Such communications didn’t go through the official channels of the department. Why is the secretary dealing with them directly?’ he added.
Lacson earlier expressed concern over the so-called ‘leadership fund’ in the DPWH, which Bonoan described as a system for consolidating lawmakers’ project proposals in the National Expenditure Program – effectively allowing legislators to tinker with the budget before they are authorized to do so.
He also lamented that the DPWH would arbitrarily alter lawmakers’ requests, such as replacing a P1.5-billion proposal for multipurpose buildings with P600 million in flood control projects – an indication, he said, that kickbacks have taken precedence over genuine public needs.