Senators questioned DPWH Projects Funding

DPWH Projects Funding – Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III and Sen. Grace Poe criticized the funding presented by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Based on the report from Inquirer, in the proposed 2024 budget of DPWH, there is “redundant” funding for similar projects, like roads, flood control dikes, and multipurpose buildings.

Pimental pointed out that this kind of budgeting should be worked out. The lawmaker also cited a certain project that received “double, triple, quadruple, and even quintuple” funding.

He mentioned an example. A road in Davao City had P60 million and P105 million funding while the one in Samar got P58 million, P90 million, and P200 million funding. Senator Grace Poe echoed what her fellow lawmaker noticed.

“So I think I have cited [chopped up] projects that are mislabeled. The problem here is that it doubles the potential misuse,” she said.

Indeed. If the first funding was put to waste, then, there is a great possibility that the second funding was again misused. The question now is: Did this funding go to what it was really allocated?

Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan explained, “We requested [the funding for the multiple items] from the DBM but they said we can only release a single funding, so if there are two separate allocations, we choose the higher allocation, while the rest [of the funds] would be retained by the DBM.”

The DPWH head also clarified that their department has more budget for multipurpose buildings than classrooms because of the congressmen’s project preference.

Apparently, more representatives are prioritizing the multipurpose buildings in their jurisdiction than classrooms that will cater to more students.

A report from Manila Bulletin last August that the Philippines is lacking 159,000 classrooms. So, why are buildings for students, the future leaders of the country, not being prioritized?

DPWH is the government agency ensuring strong structures for the nation but in the mere discussion about its funding, it can be seen that it is wobbly.

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