Watchdog: House 2027 budget lists farm-to-market roads in sea

Budget watchdog People’s Budget Coalition on Wednesday urged a Senate panel to scrutinize 7,054 projects worth P190 billion allegedly inserted by the House of Representatives into the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) proposed 2027 budget.

The proposal came after discovering farm-to-market roads (FMRs) with coordinates pointing to locations at sea.

Kenneth Abante, co-convenor of the coalition, presented the findings during the Senate finance committee’s deliberations on the DA’s proposed P198.45-billion budget for 2027.

Although the allocation is 8% lower than the P215.69 billion provided to the agency this year, Abante said the proposed budget contains questionable projects, suspicious details, and potentially inflated costs, many of which he attributed to House insertions.

Among the flagged projects was a P23-million FMR supposedly located in Nueva Ecija, but whose coordinates pointed to an area near Benham Rise. Another P30-million road project intended for Cebu allegedly had coordinates in the Celebes Sea near Indonesia, while a P55-million FMR supposedly intended for Quezon pointed to an area near Brunei.

FMRs are intended to connect agricultural and fisheries production sites, coastal landing points, and post-harvest facilities to markets and major roads, helping farmers reduce transportation costs and deliver their produce more efficiently.

Abante said the House inserted 355 entirely new FMR projects worth nearly P6 billion that were “completely absent from the National Expenditure Program and the Department of Agriculture’s proposal.”

He added that the newly inserted road projects each carry allocations ranging from P5 million to P15 million.

“We are not saying that these are conclusive [evidence] of corruption because we need more documents to make a determination,” Abante told senators. “What we are simply saying is that a determination and documentation are necessary so that we review these more thoroughly.”

Abante also called for scrutiny of solar-powered irrigation systems equipped with artificial intelligence, citing project allocations ranging from P50 million to P200 million.

He said the coalition’s review found that 600- to 700-watt solar panels cost around P7,000 on the market, while bidding documents from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) placed their cost at approximately P30,000 to P40,000.

“Our team has reviewed the bidding documents and the detailed unit price analyses. We found that, according to the actual bidding documents from the NIA (National Irrigation Administration), the cost for these solar panels is around P30,000 to P40,000,” he said.

Abante urged the Senate panel to thoroughly review the 2027 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) passed by the House to prevent a repeat of the multibillion-peso flood control scandal.

Several senators, including finance committee chair JV Ejercito, have questioned the House-approved budget for allegedly deviating from the NEP, citing cuts to flagship projects such as railways alongside increases in flood control and financial assistance allocations.

The NEP is the President’s proposed national budget submitted to Congress for review. Lawmakers may amend, insert, reduce, or realign allocations for government agencies.

While budget insertions are not inherently illegal, as Congress holds the constitutional power of the purse, the flood control scandal has raised concerns over the practice’s potential misuse to direct public funds toward favored legislative districts and finance substandard, overpriced, or nonexistent projects.

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