Win flags ‘doubling’ of funds for farm-to-market roads
Sen. Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian flagged on Monday the doubling of the appropriation for farm-to-market roads (FMR) from P16 billion in the executive-approved National Expenditure Program to P32.6 billion in the proposed 2026 general appropriations bill.
Gatchalian questioned the 104-percent increase in FMR allocation during a Senate subpanel on finance hearing on the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
“My point is that since we are cleaning the budget of the DPWH, it seems like the transfer of some of its funds to the DA [Department of Agriculture] can become an issue,” the chair of the Senate finance committee said.
At a hearing early this month on the proposed budget of the DA, it was found out that more than P10 billion worth of FMRs in the 2023 and 2024 national budgets were “extremely overpriced.”
Gatchalian asked Christy Polido, director of the DA’s bureau of agricultural and fisheries engineering, if the P16-billion increase in the 2026 budget is part of the FMR Network Plan (FMRNP), a government strategy to improve rural infrastructure by creating and upgrading roads that connect agricultural areas to markets.
“Some are included, some are yet to be validated,” she said.
“This additional P16 billion, is this included in your network plan or not?” Gatchalian asked again.
Polido said that out of the P32 billion in total FMR appropriation, they have already validated around P24 billion.
Gatchalian pointed out that the remaining P8 billion will be the dilemma of the DPWH, noting that it cannot be implemented even if the funding is approved.
“Correct, sir. The DPWH still has to get clearance from the DA … it cannot implement those projects unless cleared by the DA,” Polido pointed out.
Gatchalian noted that it will be a waste if the P8 billion is approved and the projects later fail to make it to the FMRNP.
Verification
In the same hearing, Gatchalian gave the DPWH until Friday this week to complete the verification of 148 line items in its proposed budget for 2026 to make sure that these are not repeating line items from the previous year’s list.
According to Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, they were able to check 798 out of the 946 projects earlier flagged as items carried from the 2025 budget.
“There were a total of 946 projects that were identified amounting to P14.455 billion. We are here to report to the committee that as of yesterday, we were able to provide validation and justification of 798 out of the 946 projects roughly amounting to P11.656 billion out of the P14.455 billion,” Dizon said.
Still on the DPWH budget, some lawmakers are also reporting either “double entries” or unknown projects in their own districts in the proposed 2026 budget approved in the House.
“Upon review, our office identified several project entries that appear to be duplicates due to variations in naming or descriptions,” Batangas Rep. King Collantes said in a letter to Gatchalian dated Oct. 22.
Collantes listed as duplicated the road rehabilitation in Barangay Sta. Maria, Sto. Tomas City; the completion of a multipurpose building in Barangay Don Juan, Cuenca; and a similar project in Barangay San Jose, Sto. Tomas City, each costing P5 million.
Gatchalian said this only showed that even congressmen on the ground are not aware of these duplicate projects. —WITH A REPORT FROM MAILA AGER
