'Ghost' projects extend to DA farm-to-roads market: Laurel

“Ghost” or non-existent government-funded programs are no longer confined to the Department of Public Works and Highways, as they have now infiltrated the Department of Agriculture’s farm-to-market roads (FMR). 

DA Secretary Tiu Laurel Jr. disclosed on Monday that the agency had found ghost FMRs in Davao Occidental and Zamboanga del Norte that were supposedly implemented in 2021 and 2022, citing the agency's initial audit findings. 

Laurel, however, did not elaborate on the details but guaranteed that he would report it to President Marcos Jr. 

“In the initial report provided to me, we found a ghost (FMR) in Davao Occidental in 2021 and 2022. We haven't seen any recently, but the whole scheme of this is not that big in my opinion. But we have already seen something,” Laurel told reporters in a chance interview in the House before the DA’s budget deliberations at the plenary. 

“We have also seen in Zamboanga del Norte— a road with an opening but no cement. We'll just have to wait for its validation, but more or less that's what I will report to the President,” he added. 

Laurel ordered a sweeping audit of the FMR earlier this month, covering 2021 to present, to determine possible irregularities in the program’s implementation, which is under the purview of the scandal-plagued Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The directive came in the wake of allegations of large-scale corruption involving flood control projects under the DPWH, which is embroiled in accusations of ghost and substandard work. 

The construction of FMRs is mandated under the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997 (RA 8435) to connect agriculture and fisheries production sites, coastal landing points, and post-harvest facilities to the market, arterial roads, and highways.

This aims, among other things, to reduce transport costs for farmers and give them easy access to deliver their produce to the market, which may result in higher returns in their harvest.

Marcos aims to build 131,410.66 kilometers of FMR under his six-year term. Of the target,  the government has already completed 70,000 km as of July, leaving approximately 61,000 km in backlog.

The full audit of FMR is expected to be completed before year-end. 

According to Laurel, the DA is poised to receive an additional P40 billion on top of its proposed P176.7-billion budget for next year as a result of the House realigning P255 billion from the DPWH’s budget intended to bankroll flood control projects. 

The extra funds “would be part of cash assistance to farmers because they incurred losses this year.”

The allocation for FMR for 2026 is pegged at P16 billion, which Laurel lamented as “far shorter” than the P56 billion in pending requests from 2025.