C. Luzon gets most funding as DA takes over farm-market roads
Central Luzon, the country’s rice granary that contributed the largest agricultural output in 2024, will get the lion’s share of the P33.9-billion budget for the construction and repair of farm-to-market roads (FMRs), which would be primarily under the Department of Agriculture (DA) for the first time in the proposed 2026 national budget.
According to the enrolled 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), the region—composed of Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales—will get P4.89 billion for new FMRs next year.
The next biggest FMR allocation will go to Eastern Visayas (P4.3 billion), followed by Cagayan Valley (P3.782 billion), Soccsksargen (P3.568 billion) and Calabarzon (P2.651 billion).
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that Central Luzon had the largest share (13.7 percent) of the country’s agricultural production value in 2024, followed by Northern Mindanao (10.3 percent) and Davao Region (7.5 percent).
Eastern Visayas contributed 3.7 percent; Cagayan Valley, 7.15 percent; Soccsksargen, 7.41 percent; and Calabarzon 7.39 percent.
There are nearly 870 FMRs under the DA budget line, 820 of which the civil society watchdog, People’s Budget Coalition (PBC), has flagged for having “very round numbers”—an indication that they are likely not properly costed.
An analysis by PBC of the enrolled bill, which was reviewed by the Inquirer, showed that 549 projects cost exactly P15 million each. Another 121 projects each cost P30 million, and 75 others amounted to P20 million each. PBC said there were at least P14.9 billion worth of “risky” FMRs.
Overpriced
During the Senate deliberations on the budget for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian revealed that over P10 billion worth of FMRs in the 2023 and 2024 budgets were overpriced, with some by as much as 70 percent.
Eastern Visayas was flagged for having 33 projects funded by as much as P791 million with cost overshoots totalling more than P550 million.
Some of these were in Tacloban City, hometown of former Speaker Martin Romualdez, who is suspected of pocketing kickbacks from overpriced infrastructure projects during his speakership.
In September last year, the DA ordered a sweeping audit of FMRs from 2021 to 2025 to check and resolve possible irregularities.
According to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., the current cost of building a kilometer of concrete, two-lane FMR averages P15 million per kilometer, but the DA can bring it down by roughly 20 percent.
He said that through internal management and the use of new technologies, such as soil stabilizers, the amount can be reduced to P12 million or lower.
Backlog
Tiu Laurel earlier said that the P33.9 billion would be used to construct 2,750 kilometers of FMRs to help lower production and transport costs, and eventually help bring down food prices. He added that the DA was strengthening its engineering capacity and coordinating closely with local governments and national agencies to ensure projects are completed on time and built to specification.
The country needs about 131,000 kilometers of FMRs to spur rural development, according to DA estimates. Of this, some 60,000 kilometers have yet to be built at an estimated cost of around P720 billion over at least 21 years.
The P33.9 billion for new FMRs is separate from the P261.3 million allocated for the DA’s FMR subprogram for network planning and monitoring services.
The 2026 GAB, ratified by the Senate and the House of Representatives on Dec. 29, 2025, formalizes the transfer of responsibility for new FMRs from the DPWH to the DA through its Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Engineering.
The multibillion-peso flood control scandal revealed that FMRs were among the public works projects that were overpriced or reported as completed when they were actually nonexistent, and served as sources of kickbacks for corrupt contractors and lawmakers.
According to the special provisions of the DA’s proposed P165.5 billion budget, the agency is now the primary implementer of FMRs. The DA is also required to turn over the management and ownership of completed FMRs to their respective LGUs, which would shoulder maintenance costs.
Online dashboard
The DA is also mandated to maintain and update a publicly accessible online dashboard on its official website containing information about the project timelines, status, location, contractors, funding sources, costs and other relevant details.
In the past, the GAA included funds for FMRs in the DA budget while the DPWH was tasked with implementing them. The DA’s job then was to check the status of the projects. From 2019 to 2021, FMR projects accounted for about 18 percent of the DA’s total budget.
On Oct. 10, 2025, Tiu Laurel declared the DA ready to take independent charge of the FMR projects following concerns over the alleged misuse of public funds in past projects managed by the DPWH.
This move aims to promote a more focused, agriculture-centered approach to rural infrastructure development, according to the DA. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
