The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday said it is ready to take the lead in implementing the government’s farm-to-market road (FMR) projects to help curb corruption.
This came after lawmakers urged the DA to assume responsibility for the FMR projects, previously managed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), during the Senate Committee on Finance hearing on the agency’s proposed 2026 budget.
Aside from the ongoing probe into alleged anomalous infrastructure projects of the DPWH, particularly flood control programs, Finance Committee Chair Senator Win Gatchalian flagged the “possible overpricing” of previous FMR projects.
Gatchalian particularly cited the alleged overpriced construction of a 70,000-kilometer road under the DPWH, which “could have been enough” to build a “two-lane highway” from Manila to Aparri.
In a statement, DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. welcomed the challenge to uphold the welfare of the agriculture sector and advance food security, saying there is “no time for hesitation.”
“At the last Senate hearing on the Department of Agriculture’s 2026 budget, we were issued a direct challenge: to take charge of farm-to-market road projects ourselves,” he said.
Tiu Laurel said the DA will coordinate closely with local government units, farmers’ groups, third-party auditors and surveyors, and will conduct citizen participatory audits to guarantee “accountability and transparency” in all FMR projects.
“This mandate is too large, too critical, and too prone to misuse to be entrusted to a single agency… Para sa bayan, hindi namin tatalikuran ang hamon ng panahon (For the nation, we will not back down from the challenge of the times),” Tiu Laurel said. (PNA)