Lacson sees no virus response in P67-B DPWH projects

Panfilo Lacson – PRIB SENATE

MANILA, Philippines – How can Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) funding of P67 billion to construct “multi-purpose buildings” next year help the country recover from the economic depression due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson asked on Wednesday.

During the Senate hearing on DPWH’s P666.47 billion budget for 2021, Lacson questioned Secretary of Public Works Mark Villar about the “pattern” of unequal allocation for local projects to the detriment of national projects.

Legislators intervention

In DPWH’s detailed budget proposal, the allocation for local infrastructure projects skyrocketed by P52.84 billion to P229 billion from the original allocation of P176.15 billion, while the allocation for national projects was significantly reduced.

About 30 percent of the local project allocation, or P67 billion, will go to multi-use buildings, Lacson noted.

He asked Villar, a former Las Piñas representative, if the changes in DPWH’s capital outlay next year were due to “intervention by some legislators.”

“My question is, were you late [budget] Does the presentation involve the intervention of some legislators? Or was it completely [your] own do? “Lacson said during the video conference hearing.

“I wonder how multipurpose buildings will contribute to the ‘Reboot, Bounce, Recover’ budget theme,” continued Lacson, the tireless Senate hog hunter.

Villar said his department’s budget was “adjusted based on” priority projects. “

“Regarding your question about the multipurpose [buildings], we also receive many requests from various sectors for these [structures]. If we look at local communities, it is necessary to attend to them in some way, ”he said.

“We also want to prime the pumps in the field,” he added.

The new budget that DPWH presented on September 7 was an “alteration” of the original budget contained in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) presented by Malacañang in August, Lacson said. “I can’t recognize it anymore,” he said.

Villar said that the Department of Budget and Management gave DPWH a budget cap in July, so it was unable to prepare project details in time for the NEP to be printed and submitted.

‘Haggling’ by members of the House

On Sunday, Lacson said the delay in submitting the DPWH budget could be due to the dispute over the presidency in the House of Representatives.

“They themselves (the members of the House) said that there was no equitable distribution of the budget in the [congressional] districts, ”he said.

Lacson said certain representatives were “haggling” with the DPWH to “pre-insert or incorporate” their chosen infrastructure projects into the national budget to “avoid detection during deliberations in Congress, especially in the Senate.”

During Wednesday’s hearing, Lacson lamented how DPWH cut billions of pesos in funding originally intended for national highways and bridges, and said those infrastructure projects will have an impact on national development.

DPWH reduced funding for highway network development by P21.45 billion to P109.99 billion from NEP’s original allocation of P131.44 billion.

The allocation for bridge projects was reduced by P6.5 billion to P23.18 billion from P29.73 billion; for flood management projects at P4.5 billion to P84.37 billion; and for the preservation of assets from P9.81 billion to P46.29 billion.

Lacson also questioned the huge increase in the allocation for right-of-way payments from P24 billion to P36.63 billion from the original P12.6 billion, saying past allocations did not reach that much.

“Too much went to locally funded projects. There is too much imbalance between local and national projects, ”he said.

He said he would question the DPWH budget during the plenary session for amendments.

Pig parking in the DPWH budget

For years, Lacson has been watching DPWH’s budget for pork, funds that legislators “park” in the agency’s spending plan to be funneled to their districts to fund projects designed by favored contractors to give them sizable cuts.

Prior to the P67 billion for multipurpose buildings, Lacson had marked P8.2 billion for various military infrastructure projects in the DPWH budget.

While the allocation of funds for military projects in the DPWH budget was not unusual, he said he found it “quite irregular” that the same article should be placed under two agencies. Create confusion, he said.

He said similar incidents had occurred before, such as the allocation of funds for public school buildings in the budgets of the DPWH and the Department of Education.

“I had questioned it because it is confusing, only to be told, albeit unofficially, that the allocations for repairs and construction of school buildings were insertions made by some legislators, both congressmen and some senators,” Lacson told the Inquirer on Sunday.

“I can only hazard one explanation: it is driven by contractors,” he added, hinting that lawmakers may be taking bribes from project contractors.

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