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Newly installed Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon announced that he will order the courtesy resignation of all officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) from the highest ranks down to district engineers, as part of a sweeping reform directive from the President.
Speaking at a Palace briefing, Dizon said the order will be carried out “immediately” in the coming days.
“I will execute this immediately in the coming days. First of all, my very first order will be to require courtesy resignations from top to bottom — undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, division heads, regional directors, and district engineers nationwide. This is the first order that the President wants implemented,” Dizon said.
The DPWH chief stressed that this move forms part of the directive for a “clean sweep” of the department.
“Clean-up, that is the very first directive. We spoke at length earlier today and he told me to clean up the DPWH,” Dizon noted.
He added that a thorough review of all personnel will follow the resignations, with the goal of identifying and retaining high-performing officials within the agency.
“They believe that there are many good and capable employees in the DPWH. The directive is to find them. They should be placed in sensitive and important positions,” Dizon added.
Crackdown on ghost projects
Dizon also vowed to pursue accountability for anomalous “ghost projects” exposed during recent inspections, emphasizing that such irregularities cannot happen without insiders’ involvement.
“These kinds of projects would not exist without accomplices inside the DPWH,” he said.
Citing a recent visit to Bulacan, where a non-existent project was discovered, Dizon pointed out that payments were still made to contractors despite the absence of actual construction.
“When a project is just an illusion — as the President said, a ghost project — it is impossible that no one from the DPWH signed off on it. Take for example the non-existent project visited in Bulacan. The President even showed receipts issued to contractors. How can a purely imaginary project, one that does not actually exist, be paid for?” he said.
“There were people in the DPWH who allowed those payments. The order is to find them, remove them from their posts, and file charges,” he added.
Dizon was sworn in as secretary of the DPWH, replacing Manuel Bonoan.
Bonoan stepped down from his post effective September 1, 2025.
The President said that he accepted the resignation of Bonoan due to command responsibility.
Speaking to reporters, the President said Bonoan took responsibility for all the issues hounding the flood control projects.
