AICS tops DOH, DepEd in share of DPWH budget

MANILA, Philippines — The P255.5 billion removed from the proposed 2026 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is being realigned by a special House committee formed by Speaker Faustino Dy III.

As of 4 p.m. yesterday, the budget amendment and revision sub-committee (BARC) had realigned P116.3 billion out of the slashed P255.5 billion, with the bulk going to an ayuda program, over the health and education departments.

Of the amount, P32 billion went to the controversial Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations, as proposed by House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan. AICS has been criticized for being used by lawmakers and other politicians for patronage.

Some P29.2 billion went to the Department of Health, followed by P26.5 billion to the Department of Education (DepEd), P19.1 billion to the Department of Labor and Employment and P9.3 billion to the Commission on Higher Education.

The CHED has been called out for still having P15 billion in unobligated funds last year.

“This is unprecedented. Never has it happened in the history of the budget process wherein the committee would have to realign and reallocate P255 billion in funds before the plenary deliberation starts,” Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing said yesterday.

“It’s important to convene the BARC since the committee report we will submit to the plenary is complete,” she said.

Suansing, chair of the appropriations panel, also presides over the BARC.

Following inquiries into the multibillion-peso flood control scandal, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon slashed the DPWH’s proposed budget, which now stands at P625.7 billion, from P881.3 billion.

In a chance interview yesterday, Dy said, “We are asking people to give us a chance to cleanse the budget process. That’s why we formed the BARC, and they are in the process of discussing and reviewing the budget for next year.”

Accessible SALNs

Public access to the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of 318 House lawmakers is necessary to restore their trust, Dy maintained.

“People have to see it and we have to be open about it. It should be accessible to everyone,” he said.

“If there is a need for me to show and make public my SALN, why not? I’m willing to do it,” he added.

There are 254 district and 64 sectoral representatives in the lower chamber.

Akbayan party-list lawmakers and Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-ao have released their SALNs. No other lawmakers have followed suit.

Flood control to be based on NOAH

Flood control programs will only be implemented based on Project Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazard program (NOAH)’s review of local government units, Dy said.

“Many projects have been removed (from the proposed 2026 budget), but for those that are necessary, we have the NOAH app, which identifies areas in dire need of flood control,” he said.

DPWH Secretary Dizon will decide which districts and provinces would receive flood control funds and if allocations will still push through, he said.

Project NOAH, launched in 2012, is managed by climate change experts from the University of the Philippines.

The program can determine areas geographically at risk or vulnerable to natural disasters.

Ping: Ban insertions, stop ‘original sin’

Congress bears the “original sin” in the flood control scandal, and lawmakers must practice self-restraint in budget insertions, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said.

He said Senate and House leaders should agree to prohibit lawmakers from inserting funds for infrastructure projects in the national budget.

“I hope Dy and Senate President Tito Sotto can agree with the chairmen of the House appropriations panel and Senate finance panel to bar insertions for infrastructure projects, especially for the DPWH. Because it all starts there and some lawmakers got greedier and greedier,” Lacson told True FM.

Lacson, chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, said the ongoing probe into flood control projects has shown that congressional insertions enabled corrupt schemes within the DPWH.

Inquiries should not stop with dismissed DPWH engineers Henry Alcantara and Brice Hernandez, Syms Construction owner Sally Santos or contractors Curlee and Sarah Discaya, he stressed.

“We must see to it that the logical conclusion reaches the original sin,” Lacson said, referring to Congress.

The Blue Ribbon panel will resume its hearing today.

Lacson said former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, who appointed Alcantara to Bulacan, has been invited to testify.

Evidence that could aid the Independent Commission for Infrastructure would be shared immediately with the body, he noted. — Neil Jayson Servallos