DEPARTMENT of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon has allowed the agency’s personnel to report for work in plain clothes and not wear their uniforms amid corruption issues over the anomalous implementation of flood control projects.
Dizon issued a memorandum dated September 9, 2025, permitting personnel not to wear their prescribed office uniforms until further notice.
“All officials and employees of the DPWH are nevertheless expected to report for duty in appropriate and presentable attire at all times, in accordance with Civil Service Commission Circular No. 16, s. 2024 (Revised Dress Code for Government Officials and Employees), and in keeping with the standards of professionalism in public service,” Dizon said in his memo.
The agency, in a separate statement, said the instruction also aims to protect its employees from bullying and harassment in relation to the ongoing probe into the supposed irregularities in flood control projects.
Several DPWH engineers and personnel are in hot water over the anomalous implementation of flood control projects worth hundreds of millions in taxpayers' money.
On September 11, Dizon filed graft complaints against 20 DPWH Bulacan officials over the irregularities in the province’s flood control projects, which include millions worth of ghost projects.
These DPWH officials are allegedly conniving with lawmakers and contractors to siphon public funds right through their pockets.
Some of them were even big-time gamblers, losing millions in casinos.
One of them, former Bulacan First District assistant engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez, owns luxury watches and vehicles such as a Toyota Supra worth P4 million, a Dodge Challenger worth P7 million, a 2022 Ducati motorcycle worth P2.2 million, and a BMW R1250 worth P1.2 million.
His wife owns a Lamborghini Urus Performante worth around P30 million.
Hernandez admitted that he receives only a P70,000 monthly salary from the DPWH. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)