Win Gatchalian: Less than P45B may be restored in DPWH budget

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian confirmed Wednesday that a portion of the P45 billion slashed from the proposed 2026 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) may be restored.

Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate committee on finance, said that he has yet to verify the exact figures but assured that not the entire P45 billion will be restored in the DPWH budget.

“Mas less kasi finactor-in nila ‘yung logistics, hauling, indirect costs, tsaka iba pang mga cost to make it realistic kasi nga ang argument ng DPWH, hindi siya implementable dahil ‘yung binigay sa’min, too general raw ang numbers,” he told reporters in an ambush interview.

(It would be less because they factored in the logistics, hauling, indirect costs, and other costs to make it realistic because the DPWH is arguing that their budget is not implementable because the numbers given to us were too general.)

“So ngayon, marami nang details. So obviously, liliit na ‘yung savings na P45 billion na kinompute namin,” he added.

(Now, there are more details. So obviously, the savings of P45 billion that we computed will be less.)

The Senate, on final reading, slashed the DPWH’s proposed 2026 budget to P570.48 billion from P624.48 billion under the House-approved General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

To recall, the DPWH initially proposed an P881.31 billion budget under the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP), but this was reduced after the removal of locally funded flood control projects amid the revelations of substandard or ghost projects.

A day before the bicameral conference committee was set to deliberate on its proposed spending plan for next year, the DPWH appealed to the Senate to restore amounts deducted from its budget due to reductions based on the Construction Materials Price Data (CMPD).

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon on Sunday also defended the agency’s bid to restore cuts to its 2026 budget, telling skeptical lawmakers that he understood why the department lost the public's trust after massive corruption in connection with ghost or substandard flood control projects was revealed.

Gatchalian, meanwhile, had stood firm that the upper chamber is against the use of overpriced construction materials for government infrastructure projects in 2026.

The bicameral conference committee is set to tackle the proposed 2026 budget of DPWH on Wednesday, December 17. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News