A Promise Without a Price Tag

It is hard not to feel a sense of relief hearing Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon vow that the Aganan Flyover will finally be completed by 2026. After all, he invoked the ultimate motivator in Philippine politics: a furious President. Dizon noted that President Marcos Jr. was “galit na galit” (very angry) upon seeing the sinking structure last August.

But anger doesn’t pour concrete, and promises don’t pay contractors. If we look past the press conference soundbites and examine the ledger, the path to finishing this project is far shakier than the soil it stands on.

The reality, as admitted by DPWH-6 OIC Regional Director Jose Al Fruto, is that there is no specific line item for the Aganan Flyover in the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA). Instead, the funding to finish this PHP 802 million headache—now ballooning to over PHP 1.1 billion—is buried within a generic PHP 1 billion lump sum allocated for “incomplete roads and bridges” nationwide.

This is a precarious gamble. Without a dedicated line item, the Aganan project is effectively competing in a bureaucratic “Hunger Games” against every other stalled infrastructure project in the archipelago. Who decides which bridge gets priority when the funds run dry? If political winds shift in Manila, that lump sum can be realigned, leaving Iloilo with nothing but another year of traffic and a half-finished monument to inefficiency.

We cannot rely on verbal assurances or executive outbursts. Iloilo’s representatives must move beyond photo-ops and secure a Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) specifically ring-fenced for Aganan. Until that paper is signed, the “budget” is just a concept.

Furthermore, we need to have a serious conversation about why we are in this position. We are being asked to swallow an additional cost of PHP 285 million for “rectification works” like jet grouting. Why? Because the original design, prepared by United Technology Consolidated Partnership and commissioned by the DPWH Bureau of Design, specified pier depths of only 20 to 30 meters.

Third-party consultants have since confirmed that the soil required depths of 44 to 50 meters.

Missing the mark by a meter is an error; missing it by nearly half is negligence. That PHP 285 million represents the opportunity cost of public funds. That money could have built dozens of classrooms or upgraded district health centers. Instead, it is being poured into the ground to fix a professional failure that should have been caught during the planning stage.

The public is essentially being double-billed: first for the original flawed construction, and now for the repair.

If the DPWH is serious about “corrective works,” that correction shouldn’t just apply to the bored piles—it must apply to accountability. Has the design firm been sanctioned? Are we blacklisting consultants who get the geology wrong?

Getting the flyover open is the immediate priority, but we must stop treating technical incompetence as an “unforeseen cost” of development. We welcome the pledge to finish the job, Secretary Dizon. But for the sake of the taxpayers, show us the line item, and show us who is paying for the mistake.