Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon's participation Sunday, Dec. 14 in the Bicameral Conference Committee hearing on the 2026 national budget may look strange, if not downright improper to some.

But one of the House conferees, Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, said there's actual basis for Dizon's appearance.

"This is a plenary conference committee. And any committee in Congress, whether it is in the House, or in the Senate, has the power to be able to have resource persons to explain things that may not be very clear to everyone," Rodriguez, a legal luminary in the House of Representatives, said during day two of the deliberations on the P6.793-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

"And so, we have the power to invite — precisely there is now an issue on the price index, and therefore we are saying that let us listen, we may not agree, we may agree, but the point is transparency requires that we hear the executive," said the former dean of San Sebastian College of Law.

"After all, it’s the executive that will implement what we’ll pass," Rodriguez said, referring to the proposed 2026 outlay.

"And if the executive says that these are the things that we have to consider, and since they are the ones implementing, Congress does not implement projects. So that is why we are now requesting just to hear [Dizon]," the Mindanaoan explained.

It was Committee on Appropriations Chairperson Nueva Ecija 1st district Rep. Mikaela Angela "Mika" Suansing, the head of the House contingent to the bicam, who moved to have Dizon join the discussions Sunday.

"With the permission of the Senate panel, and before going into the numbers, I would first like to request that we give Secretary Vince Dizon the opportunity to present with regard one of the most-pressing factors in the discussion around DPWH which is […] the CMPD (Construction Materials Price Data) reduction," she said.

Suansing's motion was met with resistance, as senators pointed out that Dizon--a Cabinet member--was part of the executive branch and therefore had no place in the bicam. They also said that Dizon was able to give his input numerous times in the budget hearings earlier this year.

On Saturday night, during the first day of the livestreamed budget bicam hearings, the DPWH posted on social media a request for the conferees to restore the deducted amounts from the projects in the agency's proposed budget next year.

“The Department of Public Works and Highways has requested the Senate of the Philippines to restore the deducted amounts from the projects in the 2026 DPWH proposed budget as a result of the reductions in the Construction Materials Price Data or CMPD," the agency said.

The DPWH has asked that it be allowed to implement the project costs changes using the updated CMPD Special Issuance, in the exercise of its executive functions, in order to ensure its proper execution.

To this, Rodriguez said "We are not saying that we are going to agree to the letter or the recommendation, but let us hear the real resource person, the agency lodged with the public works and highways of this country."

Dizon was eventually called in and allowed to make a presentation.

The second day of the budget bicam hearing ended with no approval achieved as far as the DPWH budget is concerned.