Senators flagged alleged anomalies in the DPWH’s proposed 2026 budget, citing duplicate flood control projects, vague insertions, and questionable cost patterns amounting to tens of billions of pesos.
Sen. Erwin Tulfo questioned identical project costs in Antique and Iloilo, while Sen. Panfilo Lacson raised concerns over at least ₱51.8 billion in vague budget items.
Finance chair Sen. Win Gatchalian listed projects with no clear details, suspicious phasing, and recycled entries from past budgets, calling them red flags for ghost projects.
Senate President Chiz Escudero urged Malacañang to create a “negative list” of prohibited infrastructure items to block wasteful and “vanity” projects at the outset.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bam Aquino suggested rejecting the DPWH budget draft outright, but Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said such action is not allowed under the Constitution.
Source: PhilNews24 | September 3, 2025
