A LAWMAKER flagged the over P10-billion ‘overpriced’ farm-to-market road (FMR) projects from 2023 to 2024 amid the increasing public scrutiny over controversial flood control works.
During a Senate hearing on the proposed budget of the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian noted the top 10 ‘extremely overpriced’ FMRs last year, with a project worth P348,432 per meter leading the list.
This figure was 96 percent higher than the P15,000 per meter benchmark by the DA. The agency said 1 kilometer of FMR costs P15 million.
‘This is extremely overpriced [.] It’s an obvious sign of corruption,’ Gatchalian said.
Meanwhile, the senator also noted that the ‘overpriced’ FMR projects in 2023 and 2024 settled at P10.3 billion, which is equivalent to about 689 kilometers. Of this, P4 billion was under fiscal year 2023 for 268 kilometers while P6.3 billion was in 2024 for 420 kilometers.
‘The amount lost to corruption could build a road that starts in Manila all the way to Aparri,’ Gatchalian said.
‘That’s why the DA needs to think carefully because we will not allow this to happen again in 2026,’ he added.
For his part, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the DA did not concur in these FMR projects.
‘Based on the information I got from my undersecretaries earlier, it seems the projects didn’t go through us,’ Laurel told reporters on the sidelines of the Senate hearing.
Despite this, the DA chief said the agency would investigate the ‘overpriced’ projects.
‘I’m asking for a copy then we will do our internal investigation [.] we will also be coordinating with the [Department of Public Works and Highways] DPWH on this,’ Laurel said.
Earlier, Laurel 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 was 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. This would move away from the arbitrary selection of where to build those roads, often merely to satisfy parochial concerns.
Laurel also recommended reviewing that priority list every three years to keep it aligned with agricultural needs.
While funding remains a concern, the DA chief 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.