A BILL seeking to reorganize the Public Works department has been filed in the Senate, aimed at curbing corruption in the agency and strengthening transparency.
Senate Bill No. 1835, filed by Senator Vicente C. Sotto III, seeks to overhaul the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), reorganizing its central, regional, and district offices.
“As one of the departments receiving the largest budget allocations, Filipinos rightfully expect that every peso entrusted to the DPWH translates into safe, resilient, and responsive infrastructure,” he said in the bill’s explanatory note.
The proposed measure seeks to amend the Public Works department’s mandate, powers, organizational structure, and operational framework, including revisiting the functions of its undersecretaries and assistant secretaries.
“It is imperative to revisit the organization of DPWH to identify where the gaps are and where opportunities for corruption may lie,” Mr. Sotto said.
It will also reorganize the department according to key infrastructure projects to decentralize preparation and implementation of projects, as well as reduce opportunities for anomalies and delays.
The proposed measure also introduces the creation of an Infrastructure Maintenance Services Unit that would inspect, monitor, and evaluate completed projects. It would also maintain a centralized publicly accessible infrastructure database.
It also pushes for regional offices to assume project identification and bidding processes, previously handled by district offices. On the other hand, districts will now handle supervision, monitoring, and recommendatory functions.
Mr. Sotto said that the bill was drafted as a result of the Senate’s Blue Ribbon Committee hearings and is expected to undergo committee deliberations.
Senior officials of the DPWH have been implicated into a multibillion-peso corruption scheme involving anomalous flood control projects. — Adrian H. Halili
