Senate to axe 295 non-compliant infra projects from proposed 2027 national budget

MANILA — The Senate will remove 295 infrastructure projects worth P8.8 billion from the proposed 2027 national budget, according to Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian. 

Gatchalian said the projects were missing necessary documentation from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

“The Senate is committed unequivocally in weeding out unsubstantiated line items, including those lacking concrete and verifiable technical support, to ensure that every item in the final version is shovel-ready. Unverifiable line items will not receive a single peso of public funding,” Gatchalian said in a statement on Tuesday, November 3.

“Malinaw ang mandato ng Senado, kung walang kaukulang dokumento, walang pondo. Kailangan nating siguruhin na walang puwang ang pang-aabuso sa kaban ng bayan lalo na ngayong mahina ang usad ng ekonomiya at importante ang bawat piso para pasiglahin muli ito,” he added.

In a letter to the Senate, former DPWH Acting Secretary Vince Dizon said the 295 projects were found to be non-compliant. 

During the budget briefing of DPWH before the Senate Subcommittee on Finance last September 25, Gatchalian flagged more than 62 percent or 7,107 projects out of the total 11,395 infrastructure projects.

• no station limit/ bridge ID
• duplicated projects 
• reappear from the 2026 General Appropriations Act to 2027 NEP 
• no coordinates
• lump-sum projects
• overlapping/fragmented projects
• unspecified work scope
• conflicting type of work 

Dizon clarified during the briefing that the station limits, bridge IDs and coordinates of 6,113 projects were in the supporting documents submitted by district engineers and regional offices. 

The DPWH has 647 projects left to validate. 

Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said he supports the Senate leadership’s “no complete requirements, no budget” rule in reviewing the proposed 2027 allocations for infrastructure.

Ridon said he does not object to the upper chamber’s plan to require supporting documents for infra items in the 2027 House General Appropriations Bill (HGAB), which were not in the 2027 NEP.

He also said he does not oppose some House members’ move to bare details of the proposed infrastructure budget for their respective congressional districts next year.

“Wala naman po tayong problema kung gustong gawin po ito ng mga kinatawan po ng Kongreso. Kasi syempre, kung ito naman po ay makakatulong sa kanila pong mga distrito at constituencies, dapat wala po tayong debate po sa bagay po na ito,” he said.

He also welcomed budget watchdogs’ role in the budget process, hoping for their further involvement until bicam.

Meanwhile, the lawmaker reminded that the tendency for corruption does not only come from items inserted in the HGAB, noting that several corrupt flood control projects in Bulacan had originated from the NEP itself.

“May sinasabi na because there are new insertions in the HGAB versus the NEP, mayroon pong propensity for corruption. Sa isang bahagi pwedeng maging totoo ‘yun. Pero ang totoo po, what are the lessons of the flood control scandal? If you want to ghost a project, you don’t need an HGAB or an SGAB or a bicameral conference for it,” Ridon said. 

“In each and every part of the budget itself, from the NEP, the HGAB, SGAB, bicam, kung peperahin po ‘yung mga proyekto, kung isa-substandard po yung mga proyekto, mangyayari at mangyayari po ito,” he added.