Imee asks bicam: Why is DPWH budget not part of first day of deliberations?

Senator Imee Marcos on Saturday questioned why the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) next year was not included in the matters to be discussed on the first day of the Bicameral Conference Committee deliberations.

In her manifestation during the first-ever livestream of the bicam liberations, Marcos flagged why the DPWH budget, which under the Senate version was reduced to P570 billion from the House’s P624 billion, was not part of the memorandum for discussion by the bicam.

LIVE UPDATES: Bicam hearing for proposed 2026 national budget

“Wala po akong nakikitang budget ng DPWH at kung talagang transparency ang habol natin, bakit wala dito ang pinagmulan ng pagpupuot at kawalang kumpiyansa ng taumbayan sa atin? ,” asked Marcos. 

(I am not seeing the budget of DPWH and if we are really after transparency, why isn’t the source of people’s anger and lack of trust here?)

“Dapat mag-umpisa ang usapin dito sa Public Works pero wala sa anumang papel sa nine-page summary o dito man sa binigay sa amin kahapon lamang na reconciliation of disagreeing provisions… Wala akong nakikitang budget ng DPWH,” she said.

(The issue should start here at Public Works but it is not here in any of the pages in the nine-page summary or in the one that was given just yesterday on reconciliation of disagreeing provisions... I don’t see any DPWH budget.)

Marcos raised the question as several DPWH officials have been linked in alleged anomalous flood control projects in the country.

Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said that the schedule for discussions on the DPWH budget is scheduled on Sunday, December 14.

“May mga ibang items na bukas pa itatalakay katulad ng special purpose funds, unprogrammed appropriations,” Gatchalian said.

(There are other items that will be discussed tomorrow, such as special purpose funds and unprogrammed appropriations.)

The live streaming of the bicam deliberations on the proposed national budget was made possible after congressional inquiries revealed that funds inserted or introduced by lawmakers at the bicam level funded questionable items, including alleged anomalous flood control projects.

Aside from congressional inquiries, various sectors have also questioned the legality of the 2025 national budget for having an unprecedented amount of unprogrammed funds in the national budget, or those items which will only be funded if there is excess revenue or fund sources such as loans. —VAL, GMA Integrated News