THE DEPARTMENT of Budget and Management (DBM) is candid enough to admit that infrastructure spending stood only at P41.5 billion this April 2026.
This is more than a 50% drop from the P85.8 billion the same month a year ago. It also punctuates 10 straight months of spending decline after the President himself exposed the massive flood control expenses that enriched a select choice of pet contractors.
Who is to blame? Is the Department of Public Works and Highways being woefully slow?
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According to the DBM, “the contraction was attributed to the weak spending performance of the DPWH as the implementation of its current year’s budget and completion of prior years’ projects are still ongoing, while the processing of payment claims undergoes stringent validation procedures.”
Contractors have gotten timid. Many of them would not venture into public infrastructure projects when government itself has choked in its own words after the “mahiya naman kayo” remarks of the President as the highlight of his State of the Nation Address last year.
The flood control investigation has become a witch-hunt, focusing on certain politicians as this is calculated to quelch the public’s collective wrath in the meantime.
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Almost a year after taking over, has DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon completed an inventory of ghost and substandard flood control projects in all the cities and provinces of the country?
All investigations have so far centered on the 2025 budget and the insertions made by legislators led by fugitive congressman Zaldy Co of the House appropriations committee and former Senator Grace Poe of the Senate committee on finance.
Only the DPWH has the capability to come up with a comprehensive list of ghost and substandard flood control projects, and identify the DPWH offices that greenlighted them and paid the contractors based on dishonest certificates of completion.
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Each infrastructure project has an approved location. Marking it as a ghost project is easy. Does it exist, or nothing is standing despite DPWH certifications and payment to the private contractor?
If a project falls below the approved plans and specifications, it is a substandard project and the responsible government officials and the private individuals in cahoots with them must be similarly prosecuted.
Only the DPWH, the implementing agency, may authorize payment.
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How can the prosecution inveigle the legislator or the “proponent” behind the ghost or substandard project?
There must be some form of connection between the proponent and the DPWH official who facilitated the transaction. Phone logs or preserved text messages can prove useful in this regard.
A bank transaction documenting the exchange of cash will also buttress the allegation. Otherwise, painful as it may be, it will be extremely difficult to pin down the so-called proponent.
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The national budget, which is a law, is presumed constitutional. It underwent the process described in the Constitution.
It is approved by the President, the only person who has veto powers under the Constitution.
It is foolhardy to accuse a legislator of criminal acts solely on the basis of his participation in the budget process./PN
