The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Rose de la Cruz
Farm to market roads are vital for farmers to bring their produce to the market and for suppliers of farm inputs and seeds to sell their inputs to farmers.
Without FMRs, the cost of bringing food supplies and farm inputs to their intended markets would be exorbitantly high and prohibitive for suppliers, traders, consumers and farmers–in the end would be disastrous to local and national economies.
The Department of Agriculture, which launched its “ghost hunting” expedition for farm-to-market roads just spotted such ghost projects in Davao Occidental and Zamboanga del Norte.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. revealed that the ghost projects were supposedly constructed under the (you guessed it right) the Department of Public Works and Highways in 2021 and 2022.
The DA said the P96-million FMR in the town of Jose Abad Santos in Davao Occidental, which was reported finished, was non-existent. For this, the province is now being investigated.
Mayor Jason John Joyce of Jose Abad Santos said he welcomes the investigations, noting that the town is riddled with substandard and “ghost” public infrastructure projects, particularly those of roads.
In Zamboanga del Norte, the DA flagged a “constructed” but substandard FMR project that lacked cement and could not be usable.
While Laurel did not divulge other details, he said he already reported these findings to President Marcos Jr.
He said the agency is still scouting for more problematic FMR projects that were built recently, hinting that such issues could be limited to the previous administration.
“Let’s just wait for the validation. But more or less, that’s what I will report to the president,” he said at the sidelines of the DA’s budget hearing for 2026 at the House of Representatives.
Although findings (so far) are “not that big” in the “whole scheme of things,” he said these are enough reasons to continue the audit.
Laurel ordered a comprehensive audit on FRM projects on Sept. 18 to ensure that taxpayers’ money is accounted for amid corruption allegations involving public works.
He said that FMRs are properly identified and validated by the DA and handed to DPWH for bidding and construction.
Public outrage is focused on the DPWH after its district and regional engineers were linked to corruption scandals with lawmakers, contractors and other agencies in kickbacks from project funds (or insert funds) that they have pocketed.
“With what is happening now in flood control projects, I ordered an audit of all FMR projects from 2021 to 2025. If there are any issues in these agricultural road projects, I will have to report that to President Marcos,” he declared earlier.
The audit, which coincided with the launch of the FMR data base through the Agricultural Biosystems Engineering Management Information System, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The ABEMIS is under the Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering (BAFE), which was established in 2020.
FMR projects were formally transferred to BAFE also in 2020, but most of the projects were classified for later release (FLR), meaning funds were appropriated but were not yet disbursed.
The DA aims to build 131,000 kilometers (km) of FMRs to provide seamless access for farmers to markets, of which approximately 70,000 km with around 61,000 km considered as backlog or pending validation.
In the DA’s budget for 2026, FMRs would be given ₱16 billion to build 1,067 km of roads, 71 percent lower than its request of ₱56 billion.
Laurel said the DA will receive an additional ₱40 billion on top of its proposed ₱176.7 billion budget for next year, following the realignment of the DPWH’s ₱255.5 billion flood control project. Part of this augmented funds will be for cash assistance to farmers for their losses from storms.
Laurel earlier recommended an overhaul of road dimensions to work around the limited budget, including narrowing the roadways of FMRs.