Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon defended the inclusion of certain projects in the agency’s proposed 2026 budget that were also funded in 2025, following scrutiny from the Senate Committee on Finance on Monday, October 27, as reported by RH Raymund Dadpaas.

The projects, flagged by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian as potential “red flag” items, reportedly amount to ₱14.4 billion across 946 projects.

According to Secretary Dizon, the DPWH has already validated 798 of these projects—equivalent to ₱11.6 billion—and found no anomalies during the review.

“There were a total of 946 projects that were identified amounting to ₱14.455 billion. As of yesterday, we were able to provide validation and justification of 798 out of the 946 projects, roughly amounting to ₱11.66 billion out of the ₱14.455 billion,” Dizon said.

He explained that the validation process was conducted under tight time constraints, as the Senate committee gave the department only one week to complete its report.

Currently, 148 projects remain unvalidated, and the DPWH was given until Friday to finalize and submit the remaining documentation.

Dizon added that all validated projects have undergone geo-tagging and have been assigned station IDs to ensure transparency and traceability. The department secretary affirms that all 798 validated projects have been geo-tagged and can be easily located and verified.

Earlier, Senator Gatchalian warned that the Senate might slash more than ₱270 billion from the DPWH’s proposed 2026 budget if the agency fails to justify the questioned items.

The Senate Finance Committee continues to review the DPWH budget as part of the broader deliberations on the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).