Automated safeguards eyed for FMR records
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking to strengthen automation and data validation procedures to prevent errors in farm-to-market road (FMR) project records following discrepancies flagged in its proposed 2027 budget.
DA Spokesperson and Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the agency would tighten its review of project information before submission, particularly geographical coordinates, after identifying errors in eight out of approximately 1,600 entries.
“From here on, we will be stricter, especially before submission. Everything must be double-checked,” de Mesa said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum on Wednesday.
He explained that the discrepancies were caused by human error during data preparation, including instances where geographical coordinates were incorrectly copied.
In one example, a coordinate beginning with 14 degrees was mistakenly recorded as four degrees after the first digit was omitted during copying.
De Mesa acknowledged that tight budget preparation deadlines and heavy workloads could contribute to clerical mistakes, underscoring the importance of automation in improving data accuracy.
“Sometimes there are immediate deadlines, and people are tired, so human errors can happen. That is why automation is also important,” he said.
The DA official declined to identify the office or personnel responsible for the discrepancies but said warnings had already been issued to prevent similar incidents.
“If you look at the numbers, eight out of 1,600 is a very small percentage. Imposing a heavy penalty would be too much, but of course, warnings have already been issued to ensure this does not happen again,” de Mesa said.
The discrepancies were earlier flagged by civil society groups, including the People’s Budget Coalition, BetterGov.phand BistoProyekto, during Senate deliberations on the DA’s proposed 2027 budget.
Meanwhile, de Mesa said the agency would defer to the Senate’s scrutiny of additional FMR projects included in the proposed national budget, particularly those reportedly excluded from the DA’s original infrastructure plan.
“We trust the wisdom of the Senate when it comes to scrutinizing these,” he said.
He also clarified that the construction of FMRs does not automatically justify the reclassification of agricultural land, stressing that technical assessments are based on soil characteristics rather than road access.
The tighter oversight follows the discovery of P94 million worth of alleged ghost farm-to-market road projects in Davao Occidental, which prompted the Office of the Ombudsman to suspend several Department of Public Works and Highways officials.
The DA earlier found that some projects had been declared fully completed and paid despite remaining unfinished or showing little evidence of actual construction.