New DPWH chief seeks full review of 2026 budget 

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon said Thursday he would seek guidance from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to review its budget in response to alleged corruption in flood control projects, according to a report by Manila Standard.

“We will follow the President’s directive. And for me, who is only on my second day… this review, revision, revisit and if necessary, change of the DPWH budget is welcome,” Dizon said.

“Secretary Mina [Pangandaman] and I talked. We both agreed on a two-week timeline—two weeks—maximum. It could be shorter. So, we just need to work on this thoroughly. We will meet the DPWH—our colleagues there—so that we can have an honest-to-goodness review,” he said.

Pangandaman, however, assured that the executive branch is ready to work with Congress to fix questionable items in the fiscal year 2026 National Budget, particularly in the listed projects of the DPWH.

“I have full confidence in Secretary Dizon’s leadership in carrying out this review. With the strong mandate from the President and our shared commitment to transparency and accountability, I am certain that the review will be exhaustive and uncompromising,” Pangandaman said.

Pangandaman’s statement came amid fears of a reenacted budget following the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to scrutinize the proposed budget of the DPWH and the indication by Congress that the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP) would be returned to the DBM.

“Perhaps the important thing here is that the executive is very much willing to work with Congress to make sure that our budget is well-organized and that we have a budget. Again, if you don’t have a budget, you can’t provide anything to our countrymen. That’s even more painful,” she said.

“Here at the DBM, we are ready… assuming we have a reenacted budget. But of course, we said that the reenacted budget will cause a downturn in our economy, especially now that we see the huge contribution of our budget to our economy. We don’t want that to go away,” Pangandaman said.