The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget submitted by the executive department contained lower allocations for more dense provinces while some less populated areas had bigger funding, Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste said on Wednesday.
Leviste, in his latest criticism of the DPWH, said that he has been reviewing the agency’s entries in the National Expenditures Program (NEP) and finding that some areas got a bigger allocation despite having a lower population.
The NEP is the budget submitted by the executive branch to Congress, which then deliberates line items to create the General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
The lawmaker cited the case of Western Visayas, which only got P16.37 billion despite having a population of 4.86 million – compared to the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) which has a 1.81 million population and got a P17.00 billion allocation.
With this, Leviste said it might be better if the DPWH budget was given to local government units (LGUs) through an equitable manner.
‘Given the smaller DPWH budget for certain regions compared to their much bigger contribution to national taxes, they would be better off if the DPWH budget were instead given to local governments equitably through the National Tax Allotment, which is based on a formula 50 percent population, 25 percent land area, and 25 percent equal sharing,’ Leviste said.
Aside from Western Visayas, Leviste also noticed that the country’s populous regions – Central Luzon, Calabarzon, National Capital Region, and Ilocos region which make up around 41 percent of the country’s population and 60 percent of the economy, only get around 25 percent of the DPWH budget.
Leviste also reiterated the under-allocation for Calabrzon, which led to him voting against the House GAB. According to the lawmaker, the DPWH can lower prices by 25 percent by removing P150 billion in possible kickbacks, while reallocating these to classrooms and underfunded regions.
Furthermore, the lawmaker said that there should be a shift from horizontal projects like flood control, asphalt overlay, and slope protection – projects that are easy to implement corruption schemes – towards classroom construction.
‘The reason there’s a classroom shortage is because there are almost no kickbacks in classrooms. It is easier to do substandard work on the thickness of an asphalt project than on a three-story classroom building,’ Leviste said.
This is not the first time that Leviste called out DPWH. Last October 8, the Batangas solon said that while he agrees with the steps taken by Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, DPWH has been hounded by systemic problems – which means the best way to avoid corruption is to reduce the allocation for the agency.
Aside from these, Leviste has been looking for ways to trim down the DPWH budget – and possibly realign it towards funding college scholarships. Last September 12, the lawmaker said lower allocation for DPWH can be used to provide college scholarships through the Commission on Higher Education’s Tulong Dunong Program.
On August 19, Leviste said that amid concerns of corruption and substandard work in flood control projects, the over P250 billion fund in 2026 for such projects should just be allocated to the construction of classrooms and other more important matters.
Leviste said that since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself has indicated that flood control projects may have been affected by corruption, half of the funds for this purpose can be used to create more classrooms while the other half can help in lowering taxes.
Eventually, the resubmitted DPWH budget was slashed by P255.5 billion, part of which were allocated towards social aid, health programs, and a higher education budget.
Early October, Leviste urged DPWH to release a breakdown of allocations per district for 2026, amid concerns that some steps to rid the agency and the budget of corrupt activities have not been taken yet.
Despite these, the lawmaker said that he remains optimistic that the 2026 DPWH budget contained several improvements, and continued deliberations would result in an even more equitable and responsive appropriations. /jpv