Metro Manila, Philippines – The bicameral conference committee finalizing the proposed 2026 budget agreed to make the funding allocation for the implementation of farm-to-market road (FMR) projects to P33 billion on Saturday, Dec. 13.
Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Suansing, the House appropriations committee chairperson, initially sought to restore P32 billion from the House of Representatives’ version of the 2026 budget bill.
The Senate only approved in their bill version around P16 billion, the same level in the 2026 National Expenditure Program.
But after two hours of deliberations, Suansing made a motion to adopt the amount of P33.009 million for FMR projects, which hurdled the bicam.
Senators Pia Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Imee Marcos, and Erwin Tulfo expressed concerns, particularly on corruption and accountability of the implementation, and their reservations on the proposed allocation.
DA to implement FMR projects anew
Starting next year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) will implement the FMR projects, a task originally of the agency but was transferred to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the last decade.
The takeover of the development of FMRs was mainly due to the flood control corruption scandal.
“Hindi ba dapat i-pilot muna? Maglilipat na naman tayo, paulit-ulit lang to palipat-lipat [Should we pilot it first? We will be transferring the task again],” Marcos said, adding that the DA office who will actually implement the road projects only has 65 personnel nationwide.
“We are transferring it now to the DA, giving them an additional budget to work with, and they have no experience except from 10, 11 years ago,” Cayetano said.
Suansing assured that they have expanded the modalities to accelerate project implementation.
She also said one percent from the allocation will go to administrative costs to have more validators and inspectors in the Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering (BAFE) to address manpower.
Sen. Kiko Pangilinan assured the repair, rehabilitation, and construction of FMR projects will be in accordance with the national FMR network plan.
The DA earlier said over 60,000 kilometers out of the 131,000 kilometers of FMRs detailed in the national roadmap have yet to be built.
Safeguards
Sen. Win Gatchalian, the Senate finance committee chairperson, said they will be introducing more modalities in project implementation as a safeguard in transferring the task to the DA.
“We will now allow the DA to partner with LGUs (local government units) or download funds to the LGUs to implement the FMRs. They can also do the PPP (public-private partnership) and other modalities, other than public works,” Gatchalian said.
Pangilinan said among the additional safeguards is a transparency portal, where the coordinates of FMR projects will be input for public access.
“The citizens’ participatory audit will likewise be part of the safeguards wherein we will engage citizens, groups, and individuals who will check and monitor the implementation of these FMR projects,” he said.
Pangilinan said another special provision will also be detailed in the budget bill that any FMR project should be subjected to BAFE’s technical review and cost evaluation to avoid overpricing.
Suansing said they are proposing to add another special provision to allow the utilization of savings to augment FMR projects — a matter that will be studied further to align with the law.
