Parliament Cuts 295 Infrastructure Projects After Ghost Project Scandal

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia — The Philippine Parliament plans to cut a proposed infrastructure budget worth trillions of rupiah for next year. The decisive move is intended to prevent the emergence of hundreds of ghost projects whose status is unclear.

Citing The Manila Times and The Philippine Star on Wednesday (4 November 2026), the cuts target 295 infrastructure projects worth 8.83 billion pesos (Rp2.525 trillion). The funding is planned to be removed from the Philippines’ draft 2027 state budget.

The Philippines’ Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has also expressed full support for the Senate’s decision to cancel the allocations. The removal of hundreds of projects follows concerns about incomplete documentation and forms part of a campaign against fictitious infrastructure projects.

Public Works Secretary Giovanni Lopez said on Wednesday that the tighter requirements followed a direct instruction from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The President has strictly required every proposed project to have accountable technical supporting documents.

“It is very clear from the President himself: no complete documents, no project,” Lopez said.

“The Senate is firmly committed to removing unjustified budget items,” Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said.

“Items that cannot be verified will not receive a single peso of public funds.”

Gatchalian added that more than 62%, or about 7,107 of the 11,395 infrastructure projects in total, had been flagged. The warning signs in the budget review included the absence of geographical coordinates for project locations and overlapping types of work.

The ghost-project issue came to light after former Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon exposed it before lawmakers. The hundreds of projects lacked mandatory documents from district engineering offices and were therefore recommended for cancellation.

Amid the tighter scrutiny, the Philippine presidential palace is also preparing for a Supreme Court ruling on another budget-related controversy. The Philippines’ Solicitor General is expected to seek a review of a ruling that declared the 2024 and 2025 national budgets unconstitutional.