PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday said the proposed budgets for flood control projects for 2026, which he has ordered scrapped, will be realigned to other priority sectors such as health and education.
“We will spend it on other things,” the President said during a media interview in Cambodia before he returned to Manila.
Marcos on Monday said there will be zero budget for flood control projects under the proposed 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP), adding the government will use the remaining P350 billion in the 2025 budget to fund these.
He has earlier ordered a sweeping review of the proposed 2026 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) amid allegations of insertions and double allocation for previously completed projects, and ordered the removal of proposed funds for flood control projects.
“There is a budget of P350 billion for 2025. Because of all of these allegations, investigations that are occurring, all of that (flood control projects) have been delayed. So the P350 billion in 2025 would not be exhausted. So, we will use the continuing appropriation for next year. And the savings, it’s going to be about P225 billion,” he said, adding that the amount would come from locally-funded projects that would not be implemented. Marcos said allocations for foreign-assisted projects will remain.
He said the P225 billion will be reappropriated for the education, health, and other department “that are in need of this funding.”
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman yesterday assured the Senate Committee on Finance that they will adopt measures that will ensure that future spending programs will not be “mangled.”
“We will introduce safeguards for this purpose during the budget call for next year by introducing safeguards, especially in the DPWH budget. We will come up with a special book so the DPWH budget will be separated from the rest),” Pangandaman said.
In Coordination with DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon, she said the DBM will make sure that all appropriations for infrastructure projects are coordinated with local government units.
She said the DBM is now in the process of expanding its “digitalization efforts” through the use of Artificial Intelligence, and will use the proper nomenclature for easy identification of proposed projects.
She added they will make sure that all projects are already finished before they release payments for them to make sure they are not “ghost” projects. She said the same will be done with other government agencies.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan said it is about time that the DBM come up with measures to strengthen the “open governance” policy of government to prevent issues of budget insertions on the proposed national budget.
“Considering this particular policy, what need to be put in place so that we can avoid what happened in the previous budget and the matter of insertions, flood control projects, and the like? It sounds good in paper but obviously they were gaps and our concern here is what we are going to do moving forward?” Pangilinan said. – With Raymond Africa
