At least nine farm-to-market roads (FMRs) worth P125 million were identified as ‘ghost’ projects by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the agency has submitted the initial audit report of FMRs to the Office of the President, where nine of the over 4,700 projects from 2021 to 2025 were considered ghost projects.
He noted that seven of the FMRs were in Davao Occidental, while the remaining two were in Lanao del Sur.
‘In our audit, those projects were not started, but in the Department of Public Works and Highways [DPWH] report, those projects were listed as completed,’ De Mesa told reporters on the sidelines of the 47th Asean Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) in Pasay on Wednesday.
While these were a relatively small percentage of the FMR projects, the DA official said this remains crucial to the farmers who were meant to benefit from them.
‘Even though the percentage of this was small, we still don’t want to have this kind of problem. These nine kilometers could have benefitted our farmers. Sayang,’ De Mesa said.
Earlier, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. ordered the audit of every FMR project since 2021 amid the ongoing clamor on controversial flood control works.
The DA explained that even though FMR schemes are identified and validated by the agency, these road projects are commissioned, bid out, and constructed by the DPWH.
‘We must make sure they are done properly, that taxpayers’ money were spent to provide farmers with market access and not squandered for farm-to-pocket projects,’ Laurel said.
Given the 61,000 kilometers considered backlog or pending validation as of July, the DA chief called on lawmakers to pass legislation that mandates a priority list for FMR projects.
Such a move would veer away from the arbitrary selection of where to build those roads, often merely to satisfy parochial concerns.
He also recommended reviewing that priority list every three years to keep it aligned with agricultural needs.
However, the DA noted that funding remains a concern.
To stretch resources, Laurel proposed redesigning road dimensions, such as narrower roadways of 3 meters instead of 5 meters, with shoulders every 300 meters to facilitate traffic movement. This is expected to cut costs and build more roads faster.