Infrastructure spending falls in Sept.

PHILIPPINE INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING fell for a third straight month in September, as public works projects continued to undergo tight scrutiny amid a corruption scandal, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

- Aubrey Rose A. Inosante

In its latest disbursement report on Sunday, the DBM said expenditures on infrastructure and other capital outlays declined by 42.6% to P78.7 billion in September from P137.1 billion in the same month last year.

Month on month, it slipped by 7.2% from P84.9 billion in August. This marked the third consecutive decline in infrastructure spending since the 31.6% contraction in July.

“The spending performance of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) continued to register negative growth rate for the third straight month since July 2025,” the DBM said.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. had flagged anomalous flood control projects during his State of the Nation Address in late July. This sparked several investigations into alleged corruption involving lawmakers, government officials, and private contractors.

The DBM attributed the sharp drop in infrastructure spending in September to the delays or non-submission of billings by contractors as the DPWH offices reviewed the implementation and completion of projects around the country. This affected the processing of payment claims and actual disbursements by the DPWH, it added.

“Heightened scrutiny from oversight agencies, such as the Office of the Ombudsman, the Commission on Audit, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the Department of Budget and Management, (which) resulted in more conservative and cautious processing of payment claims,” it said.

The DBM said there was also a freeze order on some bank accounts of DPWH implementing offices, which were under investigation.

Bad weather in September also hampered the implementation of projects, it added.