MANILA — Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson raised concerns over what he described as “duplicate” and “bloated” allocations in the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) Convergence and Special Support Program (CSSP), warning that the pattern in its 2025 budget could be designed to “confuse and corrupt.”

During his interpellation of the DPWH’s proposed 2026 budget, Lacson noted that the CSSP posted significant annual increases from 2023 to 2025.

“Bakit ito palaging bloated every year? Significant ang kanyang pagtaas (Why is the CSSP bloated every year? And the increases are significant),” he said.

Senate finance committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian, who sponsored the DPWH budget, responded that the increases were “mostly congressional.”

Lacson said the CSSP allocation in the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) was P174.088 billion, but surged to P410.91 billion in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA), a 136.08% jump. In 2025, it grew from P221.499 billion in the NEP to P504.226 billion in the GAA, or 127.61%.

For 2026, the CSSP rose from P167.79 billion in the NEP to P234.236 billion in the House version of the budget bill—a 39.6% increase.

Lacson also flagged multiple projects under Sustainable Infra Projects Alleviating Gaps (SIPAG) that had identical names to those under the Basic Infrastructure Program (BIP) but carried different amounts.

For 2026, SIPAG increased from P69.725 billion in the NEP to P111.03 billion in the House version, and P110.649 billion in the Senate version. Meanwhile, BIP grew from P60.38 billion in the NEP to P90.996 billion in the House version, before going down to P88.905 billion in the Senate version.

“Pag-aralan natin kasi baka nag-double appropriations tayo under different programs and projects pareho din. Different programs but same projects (We have to take a closer look at them because we may be giving double appropriations — different programs but the same projects),” he said.

Among the “duplicate” 2025 items Lacson cited were:

• Construction of Brgy. San Jose–Brgy. Bandi Road Package 2 in Donsol, Sorsogon — P39.433 million under SIPAG and P150 million under BIP
• Road rehabilitation Phases 1 and 2 in Umingan, Pangasinan — P125 million and P200 million under SIPAG; Phase 3 of “construction/rehabilitation” in Umingan — P17 million under BIP
• Construction of a road at Brgy. Guisican, Phase II, Labo, Camarines Norte — P30 million under SIPAG; Phase I of a similarly titled project — P100 million under BIP
• Rehabilitation of road from Brgy. Naspi to Brgy. Abucay, Pilar, Sorsogon — P100 million under SIPAG; construction of Naspi–Abucay Road Phase 2 — P50 million under BIP

“I hope ma-rectify… marami pang projects. I hope Sec. Dizon will take a look at all the project titles especially those exactly the same or na-Phase 1, Phase 2,” Lacson said.

Gatchalian said that for projects with identical titles but without technical descriptions, district engineers may exercise discretion in implementation. He added the DPWH plans to merge SIPAG and BIP beginning the 2027 budget cycle, though Lacson insisted the change must be implemented sooner to prevent waste.

Unprogrammed appropriations flagged

Lacson also renewed calls to curb the alleged misuse of unprogrammed appropriations, noting that from 2023 to 2025, P151.426 billion was spent on flood control projects from unprogrammed funds, on top of P1.006 trillion from programmed appropriations.

These include P34 billion in unprogrammed funds in 2023, P107 billion in 2024, and P9.7 billion in 2025.

He cited a study by the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP NCPAG) showing that only 923 of about 9,800 flood control projects (9.4%) had no issues. The study flagged 29.9% as potentially ghost projects, 6,290 as “chop-chop” or duplicated within boundaries, and 5,423 as “doppelgangers.”

Reforms underway

Gatchalian told Lacson that reforms are being implemented with the DPWH, including the use of station numbers and technical descriptions instead of generic “Phase 1” or “Phase 2” labels. Building projects will also carry building IDs with coordinates.

“With you there and Sec. Vince at the helm of the DPWH, I think reforms are really underway and we fully trust Sec. Dizon and his team,” Lacson told Gatchalian.

Gatchalian, in turn, credited Lacson for initiating the reforms.

“All these reforms were actually started by you… after decades meron na pong lumabas nang reporma at least here in the Senate,” he said.