Upon the inauguration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in 1935, the DPWC was reorganized to contain the following bureaus: the Bureau of Public Works, Ports, Aeronautics, Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Metropolitan Water District Division of Marine, Railway and Repair Shop, National Radio Broadcasting, the Irrigation Council and Board of Examiners for Civil, Mechanical, Chemical and Mining Engineers.ĭuring World War II, the DPWC's offices were destroyed in the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. In 1931, the DCC was renamed by the Philippine Legislature the Department of Public Works and Communication (DPWC). To keep pace with further developments in transportation and communications, the DCP was transformed into the Department of Commerce and Communications (DCC) in 1921. Both agencies were eventually merged into a bureau known as the Bureau of Public Works and was eventually subsumed into the DCP during reorganization in 1905. This eventually became the Department of Commerce and Police (DCP) in 1902, with two public works-related agencies, the Bureau of Engineering and Construction for public works projects and the Bureau of Architecture and Construction for the construction of public buildings. However, this was transferred to a department known as the "Provincial Supervisions" on February 6, 1901. Although initially included in the portfolio of the Department of War (now the Department of National Defense), public works projects were so important to the war effort that public works were also prioritized through this department.ĭuring the American period, public works projects were initially put in the hands of the U.S. It was responsible for all public works projects being done in the islands.ĭuring the Philippine Revolution, public works duties were assumed by a new department known as the Department of War and Public Works (DWPW). Alongside the Bureau of Communications and Transportation (Communicaciones y Meteologia), now the Department of Transportation, the DPWH was organized under a civil engineer known as the “Director General”. It was in 1868 that the DPWH was born as the Bureau of Public Works and Highways, or Obras Publicas. In 1867, in order to pursue this objective, the King of Spain by decree designated the Spanish Governor-General as the Chief of Public Works assisted by Junta Consultiva through a Royal Degree in 1867. As Spain expanded the scale of its public works projects, it resorted to a policy of attraction through public works projects. These public works projects were not only used in the connection of towns and fortresses, but also in improving communications. During Spanish times, the Spanish constructed the first roads in the Philippines using significant forced labor. History of the DPWH stretches back as far as the history of Philippine government itself. 9 List of the secretaries of the Department of Public Works and Highways.2 Declared state policy on public works and highways.The Department of Public Works and Highways ( Filipino: Kagawaran ng mga Pagawain at Lansangang Bayan), abbreviated as DPWH, is the executive department of the Philippine government solely vested with the Mandate to “be the State's engineering and construction arm” and, as such, it is “tasked to carry out the policy” of the State to “maintain an engineering and construction arm and continuously develop its technology, for the purposes of ensuring the safety of all infrastructure facilities and securing for all public works and highways the highest efficiency and the most appropriate quality in construction” and shall be responsible for “(t)he planning, design, construction and maintenance of infrastructure facilities, especially national highways, flood control and water resources development systems, and other public works in accordance with national development objectives,” provided that, the exercise of which “shall be decentralized to the fullest extent feasible.”