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Ranier Allan Ronda - The Philippine Star
February 9, 2026 | 12:00am
With the additional five days of wellness leave, employees and officials of the DPWH have almost 40 vacation days in a year as they already have 15 days of vacation leave, 15 days of sick leave and three days of special leave available in a year.
Businessworld / DPWH
MANILA, Philippines — Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon has awarded the employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) additional five days of paid vacation in a year as a “wellness leave” to promote their well-being and mental health.
With the additional five days of wellness leave, employees and officials of the DPWH have almost 40 vacation days in a year as they already have 15 days of vacation leave, 15 days of sick leave and three days of special leave available in a year.
“Officials and employees shall be entitled to five days Wellness Leave per year, which may be availed of for purposes including, but not limited to, mental health care, physical wellness activities or a general break from work,” Dizon said in a department order issued last Feb. 3.
“This policy shall apply to all permanent, temporary, coterminous and contractual employees, including Contract of Service and Job Order personnel in this Department,” Dizon said.
The five days of “wellness leave” could not be convertible to pay or monetized.
Dizon had been appointed to the DPWH early last September to affect a cleanup of the department at the center of ghost flood control issues that have drawn public outrage.
In his first days in the post, Dizon had ordered the indefinite suspension of the wearing of the DPWH uniform to shield officials and employees from outraged citizens who are indignant at the revelations of widespread graft in the agency.
Dizon had earlier admitted to the systemic, department-wide scope of corruption in the DPWH which caused the overprice of all infrastructure projects through the inflated Construction Materials Price Data (CMPD) and Detailed Unit Price Analysis set at the regional and district engineering offices (DEOs).
Dizon has since issued an order last Oct. 30 for an across-the-board lowering of the CMPD in all regions and DEOs, a move which he himself trumpeted to instantly generate savings of P60 billion.
