Dennis Gasgonia

Article (news)

Andrea Taguines

ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Former Presidential Commission on Good Government Commissioner Nicasio Conti has been formally appointed as new Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary for Planning and Public-Private Partnerships, said Secretary Vince Dizon on Friday.Conti replaced Maria Catalina “Cathy” Cabral, who resigned after being accused of asking Senate President Vicente Sotto III if he wanted to insert projects in the DPWH’s 2026 budget.Cabral also admitted during previous congressional hearings that as much as half of the annual national budget proposal of the executive may be allocated to chosen projects of lawmakers.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/10/9/dpwh-uncovers-421-ghost-projects-out-of-8-000-inspected-1030">DPWH uncovers 421 ghost projects out of 8, 000 inspected </a> </div>This, she said, includes the &quot;leadership fund&quot; allocated for congressional leaders.During a press conference on Friday, Dizon said he has tasked Conti to look into this and clean up the programming and budgeting system of the agency.“That’s the first thing I told Undersecretary Nick Conti: you need to study, revisit and completely change this formula,” he said.That’s as Dizon noted that even he could not comprehend how it worked when Cabral explained it to him when he first assumed the position as public works chief.“When I first heard allocable, non-allocable and all these formula about how DPWH plans and budgets its projects, to be quite frank, I did not understand a single thing about it. I have a bachelor’s and master’s degree in economics and finance and I did not understand anything that former Undersecretary Cabral told me,” he said.“This will definitely be part of the reforms that we will be doing moving forward,” added Dizon.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/10/10/-pinagkakakitaan-dpwh-indefinitely-suspends-road-reblocking-0914">&#x27;Pinagkakakitaan&#x27;: DPWH indefinitely suspends road reblocking activities</a></div>Unfortunately, Dizon said his team was not given enough time to review and remove these irregularities from the 2026 budget before it was turned over to lawmakers for deliberations.The only thing I was able to do there was take out flood control, make sure there are no completed or duplicate projects… The 1 week we were given to fix that? Impossible,” said Dizon, who was only appointed during the end of August this year.But he did promise to implement changes once they draft their budget for 2027, saying “this cannot continue.”<div> </div>

Former Presidential Commission on Good Government Commissioner Nicasio Conti has been formally appointed as new Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary for Planning and Public-Private Partnerships, said Secretary Vince Dizon on Friday.

Former Presidential Commission on Good Government Commissioner Nicasio Conti has been formally appointed as new Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary for Planning and Public-Private Partnerships, said Secretary Vince Dizon on Friday.

Conti replaces ex-DPWH Usec. Cabral

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Conti replaces ex-DPWH Usec. Cabral

Andrea Taguines,

ABS-CBN News

Published October 10, 2025 11:17 PM PHT

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Updated October 10, 2025 11:18 PM PHT

Read More:

DPWH

Cathy Cabral

Nicasio Conti

budget insertions

corruption

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