Cayetano flags DPWH P94B overhead fund waste

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday flagged the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) Engineering and Administrative Overhead (EAO) fund, saying it ballooned to P94 billion from 2022 to 2025 without ensuring project quality, resulting in wasted public funds.

Cayetano stressed that the amount, which averages P20 billion a year, could already cover the P55-billion shortfall needed to reach the 4% of GDP target for education spending. 

“Ni-research na sa DPWH pala, they have EAO na up to 3.5% for any project above P1 million, at napupunta ito sa either central office, regional director, o sa district engineer,” he said.

Cayetano made the point during the organizational meeting of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education on August 27, which he chairs, in response to Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian’s opening statement that the P55 billion needed for education could easily be sourced by reallocating part of the P270 billion set for flood control projects next year.

The (EAO) is a percentage deducted from DPWH projects worth over P1 million to cover costs for testing, quality control, project management, and pre-construction activities.

But Cayetano said despite these supposed purposes, the fund has failed to guarantee the integrity of projects and has even been linked to so-called “ghost projects.”

“Kung pang-testing at quality control pero wala naman palang quality at ghost project pa, sayang itong pondong ito,” he said.

Cayetano emphasized that the fund, which averages P20 billion a year, is enough to cover the education budget gap and urged Gatchalian to look into it.

“May I respectfully hand it over to you baka gusto mong tingnan. It’s mostly P20 billion a year. Isusumbong ko na kay Tulfo y’ang EAO na ‘yan,” he said.