No 'leadership fund' in proposed 2027 DPWH budget, says Dizon

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon on Wednesday vowed that there would be no more parametric formulas and leadership funds in their proposed budget for 2027.

In a "24 Oras" report from Tina Panganiban-Perez, Dizon told lawmakers that they have already implemented reforms to make sure that the DPWH budget would not be corrupted as it was in previous years.

The leadership fund was mentioned by former DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan, who said that it was a creative way to curb the budget insertions that took away from the agency’s projects. Meanwhile, the parametric formula was a controversial and mysterious equation that supposedly determined how much a congressional district would get.

Dizon said that there were no more allocables and no more parametric formulas.

“At hindi lang based on need. Kailangan kumpleto ang requirements. Kung wala ang requirements na pinakita ko kanina, hindi puwedeng ipasok sa budget yon,” Dizon told reporters.

(It is not just based on need. You need complete requirements. If there are no requirements that I showed earlier, you cannot put it in the budget.)

The DPWH is asking for almost P84 billion for locally-funded flood control projects. A total of 13% of the agency’s budget will be allotted for flood control.

Dizon told lawmakers that projects that wanted funding now required: a program of work, validated geo-tagged photos, budget preparation, a certificate of implementability, and a master plan or feasibility study. —Jean Mangaluz/LDF, GMA News