Appropriations Committee chairman Nueva Ecija’s District I representative Mikael Angela ‘Mika’ Suansing. (Photo from Facebook)
The House Committee on Appropriations has deferred the 2026 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget while awaiting a review and until it submits changes in needed allocations for its numerous infrastructure programs and projects.
The deferment of the DPWH proposed budget amounting to more than ₱881-billion was raised in a motion manifested by Mamamayang Liberal (ML) party-list representative Leila Norma Eulalia Josefa De Lima before the House panel.
“I’m compelled to present a motion for this Committee to direct, and compel the DBM and (the( DPWH to submit any errata, any amendment, any new proposals, any new provisions, respecting the DPWH budget. I firmly submit that this Committee has every right to compel, because this Committee has already lawfully acquired jurisdiction over the budget, over the NEP (National Expenditure Program),” De Lima enthused.
She asserted that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and DPWH cannot decline jurisdiction over the budget, since the House has the “sole and exclusive power of the purse.”
Appropriations Committee chairman Nueva Ecija representative Mikael Angela ‘Mika’ Suansing granted De Lima’s motion and directed the DPWH to fasttrack its submission of errata or amendment to its budget next week on or before next week September 12, announcing that the panel will resume consideration of the DPWH’s budget by September 16.
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon expressed agreement to the committee’s proposal, stating that some lawmakers saw that allocations for flood control projects in the 2026 NEP were not “planned thoroughly” as he cited as an example the province of Maguindanao which is known as a flood-prone area but was allocated a slim budget.
Suansing advocated the use of Project NOAH (National Operational Assessment of Hazards) of the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute in identifying flood control projects for funding, to which Dizon agreed, saying the UP project “is credible (as it) knows the areas which are flood prone.”