Acting Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said on Friday, September 25, that he would welcome leaving the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) if the law says his time is up.
“To be quite frank, it would be very welcome if what you’re saying is that I am no longer the DPWH secretary. I will be more than happy to accept that,” Dizon said.
He made the remark after Sen. Imee Marcos challenged the legal basis of his stay during the Senate’s review of the DPWH’s proposed budget for 2027. Marcos noted that Dizon took the post in an acting capacity in September 2025, and that the Administrative Code of 1987 does not allow temporary designations to run longer than a year.
“Today is what, Sept. 25, 2026? Overdue na po kayo ng ilang araw, 24 days. What is the present status, therefore, of your appointment?” Marcos asked.
Dizon answered that, according to his staff, the Office of the President regards his appointment as “continuing.” Marcos rejected that reasoning, saying the holdover principle cannot override a clear prohibition in the law. She asked the DPWH to submit a formal legal explanation of Dizon’s status.
The question over Dizon’s tenure came as the department faced scrutiny over thousands of proposed projects. Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said his office found problems in 7,107 of them, worth P251 billion. These included duplicate and overlapping entries, lump-sum allocations, missing coordinates, missing or misplaced station numbers, undefined work scopes, and conflicting work classifications. Some projects already funded in 2026 also appeared again in the 2027 proposal.
Gatchalian asked district engineers and regional directors to clean up their project records before the Senate finishes its committee report, warning that the central office would have a hard time sorting through nearly 12,000 projects.
“Our district engineers and regional directors should be the ones to clean up your data because of the sheer number of projects. There are almost 12,000 projects, and if they all reach the central office, it will be very difficult for them to clean up,” Gatchalian said. “Hopefully, I’m assuming this is not intentional. I hope.”
The House of Representatives has already completed plenary debates on the P643.95-billion DPWH budget, which includes stricter safeguards for infrastructure spending. Dizon said more than 11,000 projects will be posted on a transparency portal so the public can review them.
Romualdez expected to testify
In the flood control case, former Speaker Martin Romualdez will “most likely” take the witness stand, his lawyer said.
“He wants his day to defend himself in court, and he will most likely testify,” lawyer Ade Fajardo said.
Fajardo said the defense may also call the alleged bagmen of Zaldy Co, Romualdez’s co-accused, as witnesses.
Romualdez faces a P7.4-billion plunder charge over his alleged role in a kickback scheme tied to flood control projects.
