Proposed funding for farm-to-market roads (FMR) nearly doubled in the 2026 budget process, increasing from P16 billion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) to P32.6 billion in the version of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) passed by the House of Representatives.
During the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)’s budget hearing yesterday, senators questioned its officials over the inclusion of P8 billion worth of FMRs in its proposed 2026 budget.
Finance committee chair Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the amount is not part of the agency’s master plan, warning that the funds could go unused or misaligned with actual agricultural needs.
The implementation of FMR projects has been transferred to the Department of Agriculture (DA) from the DPWH due to questions on the latter’s alleged anomalous implementation leading to ‘extreme overpricing.’
However, the issues raised during Monday’s hearing have yet to be dealt with by the DPWH when the FMR implementation was transferred to the DA.
‘Because we saw in the GAB, there’s a bigger allocation for FMR. So the point is we’re cleaning up the DPWH, we’ve transferred to DA any possible issue,’ Gatchalian said during the budget hearing.
Gatchalian urged DA officials to clarify whether the additional P16 billion was part of the Farm-to-Market Road Network Plan (FMRNP), the department’s master list of validated and feasible road projects.
DA engineer Cristy Polido admitted that not all of the additional FMR projects were included in the network plan.
‘They are yet to be validated. Some of which are included, some of which are yet to be validated and included in the FMRNP,’ Polido said.
She said that out of the 1,656 FMRs worth P32 billion, those amounting to P24 billion had already been validated.
That leaves P8 billion in unvalidated projects, which Gatchalian warned could not be implemented under existing special provisions requiring clearance from the DA.
Gatchalian pointed out that this situation risks wasting P8 billion in public funds if the unvalidated projects remain outside the DA’s official network plan.
Polido said the DA would not implement these if they are not part of the FMNRP.
7 DA ‘ghost projects’
The Department of Agriculture has identified seven ‘ghost projects’ in its ongoing review of unfinished or overpriced government contracts, with a combined reported value of P125 million.
DA assistant secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa said on Monday that the current findings were submitted to President Marcos in early October by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.
‘Most of these are in Mindanao,’ De Mesa told reporters.
He said the projects include farm-to-market roads, valued at P15 million per kilometer.
De Mesa also said the agency is still waiting for the results of its latest internal audit on farm-to-market roads, meaning they could uncover more ‘ghost projects.’
ICI livestream rules
The Independent Commission for Infrastructure is eyeing to finalize livestreaming rules before its next scheduled hearing around mid-November.
The ICI will conduct its next hearing on Nov. 11, though no resource person has been announced yet.
That day will mark the first time the public will see the inner workings of the commission.
‘We have to tread this matter very carefully,’ ICI executive director Brian Keith Hosaka told reporters on Monday.