House panel defers DPWH's proposed 2026 budget amid erroneous entries

The House appropriations panel deferred Friday the deliberations on the proposed P880 billion budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways for next year to give the agency time to submit errata or corrections.

This developed after the panel adopted the motion put forward by ML Party-list Rep. and House Deputy Minority Leader Leila de Lima.

“I move that we compel and direct DBM and DPWH to submit within a proper period, perhaps one week or two weeks, any correction, any new proposals, any new entries in the DPWH budget. And in the meantime, necessarily, as a consequence, I also therefore move to defer or suspend the consideration of the budget hearing on the proposed budget of the DPWH to a later date,” De Lima said.

House leaders led by Deputy Speaker and Antipolo Rep. Ronaldo Puno earlier flagged erroneous entries under the DPWH’s proposed 2026 budget such as multiple funding entries for similar projects, absence of allocations for multi-year projects, as well as funding allocations for projects which were already completed.

In response, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon asked the House appropriations panel to give him time to rectify the errors.

Likewise, Dizon agreed that the P268 billion worth of flood control projects under the DPWH’s P880 billion proposed budget for 2026 should be reduced as it takes so much of the agency’s budget without proven efficiency.

On Wednesday, House leaders moved for the return of the proposed P6.7-trillion budget for 2026 to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) over erroneous entries

However, this did not push through after the DBM and DPWH owned up the mistake and promised to correct it. 

The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. is on an ongoing crackdown on ghost, if not substandard, flood control projects. —AOL, GMA Integrated News