Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has ordered a sweeping audit of all farm-to-market road projects since 2021, in line with President Ferdinand Marcos’s directive to investigate irregular flood-control projects.
“If there are any issues in these agricultural road projects, I will have to report that to President Marcos,” Tiu Laurel said in a statement on Thursday.
The target for the audit covering 2021 to 2025 is set for completion by year-end.
Tiu Laurel stressed that there should be “no shortcuts, no excuses and the farm-to-market roads must lead somewhere.”
“We must make sure they are done properly, that taxpayers’ money are spent to provide farmers with market access and not squandered for farm‑to‑pocket projects,” he added.
Tiu Laurel explained that while the Department of Agriculture identifies and validates projects, it is the Department of Public Works and Highways that bids out and constructs them.
The government aims to develop 131,000 kilometers of farm-to-market roads to connect production areas to markets under its long-term roadmap. About 70,000 kilometers have been completed as of July, leaving a backlog of 61,000 kilometers still under validation.
The agriculture secretary urged Congress to legislate a priority list for these projects to replace the current practice of arbitrary site selection driven by parochial concerns. He proposed that the list be reviewed every three years to stay aligned with farmers’ needs.
Funding remains a hurdle. For 2026, the DA has allocated P16 billion for farm-to-market roads, well below the P56 billion in pending requests this year alone. To maximize resources, Tiu Laurel suggested redesigning road dimensions: narrower three-meter roadways with shoulders every 300 meters to cut costs and build more roads faster.
The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) said the audit should go beyond roads to cover farm inputs and machinery.
“It should not only be FMRs but all big-ticket items like machines, hybrid seeds, fertilizers, biofertilizers,” FFF national manager Raul Montemayor said. “We in the private sector have been proposing to help monitor these projects but we are not getting the support we need.”
