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Children help out as farmers tend to their crop of cassava in Baras, Rizal on July 4, 2024. Agriculture employs around a quarter of the 49.7 Filipino labor force as of November according to the Philippine Statistics Authority and contributed almost 9 percent of the GDP last year. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

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Farms

Victoria Tulad

ABS-CBN News

MANILA -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) has accepted the challenge to take charge of farm-to-market road (FMR) projects after Senate Committee on Finance Chairperson Senator Sherwin Gatchalian revealed that over P10.3 billion have been lost due to alleged overpricing in 2023 and 2024.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/10/8/over-p10-billion-in-overpricing-of-farm-to-market-roads-gatchalian-1314" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Over P10 billion in overpricing of farm-to-market roads — Gatchalian</a></div>The DA attended the continuation of the Senate Subcommittee on Finance’s deliberation on its proposed 2026 budget on Friday.According to DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr, they have talked about the mentioned challenge posed in the first hearing last October 8.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/10/9/gatchalian-wants-blue-ribbon-ici-to-probe-overpriced-farm-to-market-roads-1737" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gatchalian wants Blue Ribbon, ICI to probe overpriced farm-to-market roads</a></div>“At the last Senate hearing of the Department of Agriculture’s 2026 budget, we were issued a direct challenge—to take charge of farm-to-market roads projects ourselves rather than leave them in the hands of the Department of Public Works and Highways,&quot; Laurel said.&quot;The concern, as rightly pointed out by the Committee Chair, lies in the troubling pattern of overpricing and alleged corruption in the past infrastructure efforts,” he noted.“Instinct tells us to steer clear, to play it safe, but this is in no time for hesitation. The Senate has drawn the line—take on the task or lose the budget. So after consultation with the DA family, we rise to meet the moment,” he added. “Para sa bayan hindi namin tatalikuran ang hamon ng panahon.”Tiu Laurel emphasized the importance of FMRs, saying these help the countryside grow and ensure enough and affordable food supply for the country. “According to Senator Gatchalian’s own estimates, over 10 billion in potential overpricing has plagued the 70,000 kilometers of FMRs already built. We have actually flagged these and we consider these as ghost or semi-ghost projects as we have earlier reported,” Tiu Laurel said. He agreed with Gatchalian who previously said that the P10 billion could have funded the construction of a two-lane highway from Manila to Aparri. Tiu Laurel said they will work with local government units, farmer groups, and reputable, independent auditors and third part surveyors in fulfilling their task and ensuring that every peso counts.“This mandate is too large, too critical and too prone to misuse to be entrusted to a single agency,” Tiu Laurel remarked. “If we’re going to build roads they must lead to farms, not fraud. Let this be the start of something better, transparent, inclusive and truly in service of the Filipino people.”Gatchalian and Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, thanked the secretary for their commitment.“Ako naniniwala with your experience in the private sector mas mahaba at mas murang farm-to-market roads pa ang magagawa ng DA because you bring in a lot of experience. And most importantly yung accountability,” Gatchalian said.According to Pangilinan, “Moving forward we can make the most out of every peso that is allocated for the Department of Agriculture and its attached agencies and ensure it is money well spent.”<div>NO CONCURRENCE</div>DA Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering Officer-in-Charge Cristy Polido distanced the department from the alleged overpricing.“We regret to inform you that DPWH did not inform us so we did not sign any documents and we did not concur on the design of those overpriced projects,” Polido said. She mentioned that projects should be listed in their farm-to-market road network plan.Once the DPWH receives funding, it will prepare a detailed engineering design and program of works which should be submitted to the DA, but which sometimes is supposedly not followed. “Unfortunately, there are instances wherein the DPWH do not submit to us any technical documents anymore and they just proceeded with the procurement of these FMRs. So nalalaman na lang po namin during the monitoring that they have already proceeded with the construction without the concurrence of the Department of Agriculture,” Polido explained. If there are FMRs which are not in the network plan but appear in the General Appropriations Act (GAA), what DA does is validate these before construction. “Mahirap pong mag-implement ng FMRs that are not included in the list, those FMRs that are not validated because we are never sure whether they comply with the requirements set by the program,” Polido said. Gatchalian asked, “Kung hindi validated diyan pwedeng pumasok yung overpricing?” “Possible, sir,” Polido answered.   Gatchalian said they do not want a repeat of questionable items in the 2026 budget.

The Department of Agriculture has accepted the challenge to take charge of farm-to-market road projects.

The Department of Agriculture has accepted the challenge to take charge of farm-to-market road projects.

Agri dept to take charge of farm-to-market roads amid suspicion of overpricing

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Agri dept to take charge of farm-to-market roads amid suspicion of overpricing

Victoria Tulad,

ABS-CBN News

Published October 10, 2025 12:14 PM PHT

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Updated October 10, 2025 04:44 PM PHT

Read More:

farm-to-market roads

kalsada

corruption

Department of Agriculture

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