A Senate finance subcommittee approved the proposed 2026 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for plenary approval on Monday, Oct. 27, subject to discussion and the submission of requested documents.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Senator Sherwin Gatchalian stated in the previous budget hearing that more than P340 billion may potentially be removed from the agency's proposed 2026 funding due to several red flags in 6,187 projects worth ₱271 billion for next year.

“We requested the department to indicate the station numbers so we can see where they are located, the length of each project, and to ensure they are not duplicates. In fairness to the department, the reappearing projects might be continuations since many project names are generic,” Gatchalian said.

During the hearing, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon addressed some of the red flags, including repeating projects, duplication, and the lack of station numbers.

He stated that his team identified 946 “repeating” projects, or those with the same names as listed in the 2025 budget, totaling ₱14.455 billion. As of October 26, Dizon said they had validated 798 projects nationwide, amounting to ₱11.655 billion, most of which involve roads and bridges.

For the 148 left, Gatchalian gave the DPWH until Friday to complete the validation of the remaining projects. But Dizon said that they would welcome its removal.

In line with this, Senator Erwin Tulfo on Monday inquired whether these so-called repeating projects are connected to the common practice of reblocking fine roads, resulting in the duplication of government infrastructure projects.

“Common po ito sa mga provinces. Sasabihin, ‘kakatapos lang niyan, kaka inaugurate lang, next month bubungkalin na naman. Pagkatapos, tirahin na naman, bungkal na naman.’ The same road, Mr. Chair, the same kalsada, the same munisipyo, pero paulit-ulit binubungkal, wala naman pong problema (This is common in the provinces. They’ll say, “That was just completed, just inaugurated—and next month it’ll be dug up again. After that, they’ll work on it again and dig it up once more.” The same road, Mr. Chair, the same street, the same municipality—but it keeps getting dug up repeatedly, and there’s no problem at all),” Tulfo said.

This was affirmed by Dizon, who stated that the agency will lay down clear guidelines and criteria for reblocking.

Dizon also cited the recent suspension of reblocking activities nationwide, effective October 7.

Tulfo then renewed his call for a stricter audit of infrastructure projects to avoid the irregular reblocking projects in the future.

Meanwhile, Dizon also addressed another red flag, which is 4,566 projects with no station numbers worth P201 billion. Out of this, the agency has corrected 4,085 with station numbers worth P180 billion.

For duplicated projects, which Gatchalian said were already significantly reduced to just 40 items from thousands, they were worth P1.099 billion. Instead of removing them, Gatchalian said that they can be amended with the guidance of the local government on what will be a suitable replacement.