THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will focus on maintaining existing flood control infrastructure this year after Congress removed funding for new flood control projects.
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said on Monday that the 2026 DPWH budget contains no funding for new locally funded flood control projects, in line with the president’s directive to streamline the agency’s expenditures.
Under the 2026 national budget ratified by Congress, the DPWH will get P529.67 billion, down by P351.63 billion from the P881.3 billion proposed in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
Dizon said P2.49 billion will go to the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) of existing flood control-related projects and programs, including the government’s Oplan Kontra Baha program.
“These funds will support essential declogging, desilting, dredging, repair, and clearing operations to ensure the functionality of waterways and drainage systems nationwide as well as other maintenance requirements of existing flood control-related projects,” Dizon said.
On Monday, the Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), a national umbrella organization of government workers and unions, called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to veto pork barrel and politically discretionary allocations in the 2026 budget.
The group also sought the immediate restoration of at least P43 billion removed from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF) and Pension and Gratuity Fund, through the passage of a supplemental budget that will fully and securely fund government workers’ salaries, benefits and retirement pensions.
As flagged by budget watchdogs, the proposed budget retains P243 billion in “unprogrammed” appropriations, or lump-sum funds with no assured revenue sources, released solely at the discretion of the executive, which is vulnerable to abuse, political manipulation, and corruption.
The mechanism, according to the group, circumvents congressional power of the purse and undermines transparency and accountability.
Even more alarming, the bicameral committee diverted at least P43 billion originally earmarked for government workers’ salaries, pensions, and benefits into the unprogrammed funds by inserting a new line item, “For Payment of Personnel Services Requirements.”
The group said the bicameral conference committee also stripped P10.77 billion intended for staffing modifications and salary upgrades, and P23.70 billion for personnel benefits and subsistence allowances from the MPBF, while slashing P32.47 billion from the Pension and Gratuity Fund — sacrificing public workers’ pay and retirement security to preserve discretionary and politically pliable funds.
According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the MPBF covers salary adjustments, bonuses, allowances, staffing modifications, and the filling of vacant and newly created positions.
The Pension and Gratuity Fund, on the other hand, finances the retirement and terminal leave benefits of government retirees.
“This means the bicam deliberately chose to gamble P43 billion worth of public workers’ pay, benefits, and pensions on the uncertain availability of so-called ‘excess revenues.’ Instead of guaranteed funding, public workers are told to wait and hope — while pork and politically-driven ‘ayuda’ remain protected and assured,” PSLINK said.
It noted that the same kind of budgetary gambling also happened during the Covid pandemic, when health workers endured delays and incomplete payment of their health emergency allowance because its funding was not guaranteed and was placed under unprogrammed appropriations.
“Yet instead of learning from this failure, the bicam has chosen to replicate it across the entire public sector,” the group said.
The bicam prioritized and protected the huge allocations for politically driven “ayuda” programs, including the Department of Health’s Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients and the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations — programs repeatedly flagged for weak safeguards and vulnerability to corruption and patronage politics.