DA flags 9 ‘ghost’ farm-to-market roads in Mindanao
Metro Manila, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture has flagged at least nine farm-to-market (FMR) road projects that were possibly "ghost" or non-existent in two areas in Mindanao in its initial audit.
In a chance interview on Wednesday, Oct. 1, Agriculture spokesperson Arnel de Mesa said these were seven FMR projects in Davao Occidental and two in Lanao del Sur. The cost was around P126 million.
“Sa record namin at audit namin hindi nasimulan, but sa report ng DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) completed ‘yong projects na ‘yon. Pinuntahan ‘yon ng team at nakita talaga hindi nagawa,” De Mesa said.
[Translation: In our records and audit they were not started, but the report by DPWH showed the projects were marked completed. Our team went to those projects and they saw they were not built.]
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has ordered an audit on farm-to-market road projects spanning 2021 to 2025 amid a government crackdown on corruption in flood control projects.
De Mesa said the audit covered over 4,700 FMRs. Almost 3,000 of the projects have been verified so far.
“Kahit napakaliit nong porsyento nitong may problema still ayaw namin may ganitong klaseng problema,” the agriculture official said.
“Kung ‘yan ay nine kilometers, ‘yong intended benefits ng nine kilometers na ‘yon supposed to be para sa magsasaka sayang din naman,” he added.
[Translation: While those possibly problematic projects only covered a small percentage, still we don’t want this kind of problem. The nine kilometers supposedly for farmers were wasted.]
De Mesa said the DA is also verifying FMR projects marked as “completed” in DPWH records but were supposedly not fully constructed.
The DA submitted to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. its initial audit on Wednesday, but the complete audit may take a longer time, De Mesa said.
Under the national budget, the DA has the allocation for FMR projects. It will also identify and validate the projects, the DPWH will conduct the bidding and implementation.
De Mesa explained one FMR project usually spans a kilometer. Before 2022, one kilometer of FMR will cost P12 million. It has gone up to P15 million from 2022 to the present.
