Officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) held its monthly meeting, a day after the Cabinet Infrastructure Cluster headed by the DPWH Secretary reported President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure achievements in the “Duterte Legacy Summit”.
DPWH Acting Secretary Roger G. Mercado presided over the meeting Tuesday, May 31, 2022 with the DPWH Undersecretaries, Assistant Secretaries, Regional Directors, Bureau Directors, Service Directors, and Project Directors.
Hosted by the National Capital Region under overall supervision of Senior Undersecretary Rafael C. Yabut and Unified Project Management Office (UPMO) Operations headed by Undersecretary and Build Build Build Chief Implementer Emil K. Sadain, the meeting followed an agenda of reporting the status of financial and physical accomplishments, open forum, and management review in conformance with ISO 9001:2015 requirements.
Though the meeting was for the month of May, Secretary Mercado hinted that this may be his last full meeting as DPWH Acting Secretary.
President Duterte together with his Cabinet officials will step down at noon this June 30, the day president-elect Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. takes his oath as the next Chief Executive.
Secretary Mercardo was at the helm of DPWH since October 14, 2021, replacing then Secretary Mark A. Villar who run and won a Senate seat in the recent national election.
“So many changes to make, so little time. Now my time is up. I am confident that you as leaders of the Department will hold on to your courage to change things”, Secretary Mercado said.
According to Secretary Mercado, the changes made thus far have lifted DPWH to the top 10 national government agencies with the highest public approval and trust ratings.
In a public survey conducted by Publicus Asia, Inc. between March 30 and April 6, 2022, the Department ranked 7th most approved with a rating of 57.0% and 10th most trusted with a rating of 38.9% among government agencies.
Moreover, DPWH enjoys universal awareness and an approval rating of 76% based on the Nationwide Public Perception Survey conducted by Pulse Asia Research Inc. for year 2021.
“I have done my part the best way I could”, added Secretary Mercado.
Secretary Mercado lauded the consistent performance of Regional Office 1 in meeting the agency’s target absorptive capacity and in the implementation of regular infrastructure program.
“I hope that you will be able to sustain the efficiency in the utilization of budgetary appropriations made in the national budget”, Secretary Mercado said.