President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways to cut the cost of construction materials for infrastructure projects by 50 percent to ensure the proper use of public funds.
He said the DPWH had discovered that the prices of certain materials, including asphalt, steel bars, and cement, were overpriced by up to 50 percent.
“Actually, there are some egregious examples where it’s even more than that,” he said in his departure speech at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City before flying to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits.
“In order to ensure that the costs of DPWH will reflect the costs of the market and to ensure that the people’s money is correctly spent, I have directed the DPWH Secretary to bring down the cost of materials by as much as 50 percent, which will result in savings in the capital outlay spending of at least P30 to P45 billion,” the President added.
DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon earlier bared his plan to cut the cost of materials for its projects per region to address overpricing and ensure value for money in public works spending.
“The most important reform that we are doing now is to lower the cost of materials of the DPWH. Many of them were found to be higher than the real cost of materials all over the country,” Dizon said during a Senate hearing this week.
“Based on our initial studies, some materials are really overpriced. And when I say very overpriced, that’s above 20 percent. Some are below 20 percent, while others are over 30 percent in other regions,” the DPWH chief added.
As this developed, Mr. Marcos said the DPWH would file cases against individuals involved in anomalous infrastructure works as it continues reviewing projects and contracts.
“At the same time, the Bureau of Internal Revenue will recalibrate its priorities and ensure that all those found complicit in the irregularities surrounding flood control projects are held fully accountable under the law. We will uphold fairness in our tax system,” he added.
He said the administration is shifting its focus away from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and large corporations that comply with tax laws, and instead will concentrate on “questionable projects” uncovered through recent audits.
