GOVERNMENT infrastructure spending has yet to pick up in the first quarter of the year from its 2025 downward spiral driven by the flood control corruption scandal, tempering the Marcos administration’s overall disbursement momentum.
Latest data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed infrastructure and capital outlays plummeted 48 percent to P59.1 billion in March from a year ago.
This brought first-quarter infrastructure spending down 43.5 percent to P147.8 billion.
“The decline was largely attributed to the lower disbursement performance of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) amid the ongoing completion of carry-over projects and implementation of the current year’s budget,” the DBM explained in its report.
“The adoption of a stricter validation process for billing claims to ensure project quality and value for money also continued to affect the department’s spending outturn,” it added.
The DPWH’s spending had been declining since July and further spiraled when the crackdown and probe into the graft scandal intensified. Consequently, this prompted the agency to scale back project implementation and enforce stricter rules in project validation and billing claims.
In March, the DPWH received only 12 percent, or P63.9 billion, of its adjusted P530.1-billion 2026 budget, with the pace of allotment releases unchanged since January.
This, in turn, tempered the government’s overall spending during the month, which only inched up 5 percent to P654.8 billion. For the first quarter, spending rose 3.2 percent to P1.49 trillion.
Nonetheless, disbursements during March were still supported by the government’s response to the Middle East war, which included the P20-billion emergency energy security program for the Department of Energy to secure buffer oil stock and the fuel subsidy program of the Department of Transportation.
Other expenditures that provided support were a surge in subsidies to government-owned and -controlled corporations, a rise in interest payments, assistance programs, social pensions, and higher national tax allotment shares of local government units.
Looking ahead, the DBM said infrastructure spending was expected to recover in the second quarter as the DPWH had already been given P72.1 billion as of April.
“Infrastructure departments are, likewise, expected to take advantage of the summer season to expedite construction activities. This will hopefully build up spending momentum and help the recovery of infrastructure spending towards the second half of the year,” the agency said. (Nyah Genelle C. De Leon © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
