MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered a major Cabinet reshuffle aimed at addressing the country’s persistent transportation problems while safeguarding anti-corruption reforms at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), reassigning Vince Dizon to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and appointing Giovanni Lopez as the new public works secretary.
The leadership shake-up, announced Monday by Communications Secretary Lino Cayetano, signals a shift in the administration’s priorities toward improving the daily commuting experience of Filipinos while ensuring that reforms introduced at the DPWH become permanent institutional safeguards.
“President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. wants to accelerate reform and deliver changes Filipinos can see in their lives,” Cayetano said during a Palace press briefing.
“In the President’s own words: ‘We are shifting gears to accelerate reform. Secretary Dizon goes to DOTr to fix the daily commute. Secretary Lopez goes to DPWH to make sure the reforms there last,’” Cayetano said.
Dizon’s return to the transportation department comes after his assignment at the DPWH, where he was tasked with confronting corruption allegations involving questionable flood control projects and restoring public confidence in the agency.
His reassignment places him at the forefront of efforts to address longstanding transportation concerns, particularly the difficulties experienced by millions of Filipinos who rely on public transportation for their daily commute.
Cayetano credited Dizon with initiating significant changes at the DPWH, including opening thousands of government projects to public scrutiny, accelerating the completion of delayed infrastructure and introducing stronger accountability mechanisms.
“At the Department of Public Works and Highways, Secretary Dizon disrupted a system that had protected waste and corruption for years,” Cayetano said.
“Thousands of projects are now open to the public, long-unfinished projects are being completed, and a new culture of transparency and accountability has begun to take root,” he added.
The Palace maintained that Dizon’s departure from the DPWH would not derail the reforms initiated under his leadership.
Instead, Lopez, a lawyer and certified public accountant, has been given the responsibility of strengthening existing safeguards and ensuring that transparency and accountability measures become permanent features of the department’s operations.
Cayetano said Lopez had been “tasked to strengthen safeguards and institutionalize the reforms, turning them into rules, processes and systems that will keep serving Filipinos even after this administration, for decades to come.”
“Secretary Giovanni Lopez will secure these gains with a system built to last,” Cayetano said.
The appointment effectively places Lopez in charge of sustaining the government’s campaign against irregularities in public infrastructure spending, particularly as the DPWH continues to face scrutiny over controversial flood control projects.
Meanwhile, Dizon faces the challenge of translating the administration’s reform agenda into tangible improvements in transportation services, with the Palace emphasizing the need to ease the everyday burden on commuters.
The leadership changes underscore Marcos’ intention to pursue simultaneous reforms in two critical government agencies responsible for infrastructure development and public transportation.
“The mission stays the same: a government that works faster, serves better and makes life easier for every Filipino,” Cayetano said./PN
