Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan has maintained that he will not be amenable to the proposed P33-billion budget for farm-to-market road (FMR) projects in the proposed 2026 national budget until all the details are available for scrutiny and cross-checking.

The Senate and the House of Representatives approved on 14 December a P33-billion budget for FMR projects, aligning with Congress’ initial push for P32 billion for FMRs, with the provision that the implementation will be headed by the Department of Agriculture (DA) instead of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

However, Pangilinan flagged some P8 billion worth of projects that had no specific details.

“Wasn’t the Senate version P16 billion?” he asked, referring to the Senate-approved FMR budget. He noted that after the Bicameral Conference Committee (Bicam) meeting, the budget rose to P33 billion, P8 billion of which lacked details.

“Initially, there were no specifics because the Bicam has not yet closed, so we will raise this in the Bicam, and we want coordinates. We want geo-tagging. We want itemized, line-by-line items of each contract or each project. Because the lump sum is not possible. We will not accept the lump sum,” he stressed.

Pangilinan said they will seek reconsideration of the P33 billion approval, provided that the FMR projects under the allocation come with itemized, geo-tagged coordinates.

He previously raised concerns about the use of lump-sum amounts in the proposed budget for farm-to-market roads, emphasizing the need to specify exact coordinates for each project.

To ensure the funds are corruption and abuse-free, Pangilinan introduced transparency mechanisms and digital governance initiatives for the DA and the National Irrigation Administration.

This includes a public online dashboard for irrigation projects, showing timelines, status, finances (obligated/disbursed/source of funds), awarded contracts, contractors, and geo-tagged photos captured at key stages — the start, midterm, and completion.

In October, the DA announced it would take over FMR road constructions from the DPWH starting in 2026, following revelations during a Senate hearing that some DPWH-implemented projects were overpriced.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian earlier revealed that FMR projects in 2023 and 2024 were overpriced by P10.3 billion.