Lacson flags duplicate items, steep hikes in DPWH 2025 budget

By Wilnard Bacelonia, Philippine News Agency

BLUE RIBBON PROBE. Blue Ribbon Committee chairperson Senator Panfilo Lacson presides over the resumption of the Senate investigation of the anomalies of the flood control project on Nov. 14, 2025. Lacson on Tuesday (Nov. 25) raised concerns over what he described as “duplicate” allocations and steep, unexplained increases in the Department of Public Works and Highways’ 2025 budget, warning that such patterns risk confusion and possible misuse of funds. (Senate of the Philippines/facebook)

MANILA – Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday raised concerns over what he described as “duplicate” allocations and steep, unexplained increases in the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) 2025 budget, warning that such patterns risk confusion and possible misuse of funds.

During his interpellation of the DPWH’s proposed 2026 budget, Lacson pointed to repeated spikes in the Convergence and Special Support Program (CSSP), which climbed by more than 100 percent from the National Expenditure Program (NEP) to the final General Appropriations Act (GAA) in both 2024 and 2025.

Data he presented showed CSSP rising from PHP174.088 billion to PHP410.991 billion in 2024 and from PHP221.499 billion to PHP504.226 billion in 2025, equivalent to increases of 136.08 percent and 127.61 percent, respectively.

For 2026, the CSSP also posted a 39.6 percent increase from the NEP level of PHP167.79 billion to PHP234.236 billion under the House version of the budget bill.

Lacson said the pattern of increases, mostly attributed to congressional insertions, requires closer scrutiny.

He also flagged multiple projects appearing under both the Sustainable Infrastructure Projects Alleviating Gaps (SIPAG) and the Basic Infrastructure Programs (BIP), citing project titles that were identical or nearly identical but carried separate appropriations.

Among the examples he cited were:

• Construction of Barangay San Jose–Barangay Bandi Road (Package 2), Donsol, Sorsogon, listed at PHP39.433 million under SIPAG and PHP150 million under BIP

• Road rehabilitation projects in Umingan, Pangasinan, funded under SIPAG for Phases 1 and 2 (PHP125 million and PHP200 million) and under BIP for a similarly described Phase 3 (PHP17 million)

• Construction of a road in Barangay Guisican, Labo, Camarines Norte, with PHP30 million under SIPAG and PHP100 million under BIP

• Road works in Naspi–Abucay, Pilar, Sorsogon, funded for Phase 1 under SIPAG (PHP100 million) and Phase 2 under BIP (PHP50 million)

“We have to take a closer look at them because we may be giving double appropriations — different programs but the same projects,” Lacson said, adding that many items shared the same titles or differed only by phase labels.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who sponsored the DPWH budget, said district engineers may have discretion in implementing similarly titled projects in the absence of technical descriptions.

He added that the DPWH plans to consolidate SIPAG and BIP starting in the 2027 budget to avoid overlaps.

Lacson, however, said consolidation should be implemented immediately to prevent wastage.

Concerns on unprogrammed funds

Lacson reiterated his call to stop the “abuse” of unprogrammed appropriations, saying PHP151.426 billion in flood control projects was released under unprogrammed funds from 2023 to 2025, on top of PHP1.006 trillion under programmed appropriations for the same period.

He referenced a policy study by the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP NCPAG), which reviewed 9,826 flood-control projects and found that only 9.4 percent showed no issues.

The study flagged 29.9 percent as potentially ghost projects, while thousands more exhibited signs of “chop-chop,” “doppelganger,” or “siyam-siyam” patterns.

Meanwhile, Gatchalian said reforms are being worked out with the DPWH, including the use of station numbers, technical descriptions and building coordinates in future submissions.