The Bicameral Conference Committee (Bicam) on Thursday, approved the proposed ₱529.6-billion budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for fiscal year 2026, trimming ₱20.7 billion from the agency’s allocation due to savings from previously overpriced projects.
The DPWH budget was approved past midnight, with deliberations starting at around 11:51 p.m. and concluding at approximately 1:12 a.m., when the proposal was formally passed by the bicameral panel composed of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Senate Committee on Finance Chairman Sen. Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian said the reduction resulted from the application of revised Construction Materials Price Data (CMPD) submitted by the DPWH.
According to him, the updated data reflected more realistic costs after accounting for logistics, hauling, and other related expenses.
“Ang savings na nakuha natin is P20.7 billion from the reduction of overpriced materials base sa submission ng DPWH na dito sa bagong adjustment factor pinasok na nila ang logistics, calling cost at iba pang mga costs, so mas naging near actual ang costs nila pero inapply na to all 20,000 projects,” he said.
“Confident ako sabihin na wala ng overpriced na materyales sa loob ng [DPWH] budget,” he noted, adding that the recalculated prices were applied across all DPWH projects included in the 2026 proposal.
The bicameral committee approved the DPWH budget at ₱529.6 billion, which is ₱94.8 billion lower than the House-approved version of around ₱624 billion.
Originally, lawmakers were considering slashing as much as ₱45 billion from the DPWH budget. However, after reviewing the updated construction cost data, the bicam agreed to reduce the cut to ₱20.7 billion instead.
Under the agreement, ₱16.5 billion of the savings will be realigned to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), while ₱4.2 billion will be allocated to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF).
Following the realignment, PhilHealth’s proposed 2026 budget is expected to increase to ₱129.8 billion, while the NDRRMF will receive ₱39.8 billion.
Senator Loren Legarda noted that the additional funds for PhilHealth represent amounts owed to the state health insurer under the Sin Tax Law.
The bicameral budget committee said the total ₱20.7-billion savings were generated from the application of the revised CMPD to all DPWH projects covered by the 2026 budget proposal, which number in the tens of thousands nationwide.
Earlier, the DPWH had appealed to the Senate to restore portions of its proposed 2026 budget that were reduced due to the initial application of CMPD-based adjustments. However, lawmakers said the revised figures struck a balance between ensuring fair project costs and freeing up funds for critical social services and disaster response.
