DA chief clarifies farm-to-market road budget insertions

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the Department of Agriculture (DA) has yet to receive the final budget figures for farm-to-market roads, as questions emerged over alleged congressional insertions and reports of projects appearing outside the Philippines.

In an interview with DZRH, Tiu Laurel said he had not seen the final figures and could not confirm reports concerning nearly P190 billion in infrastructure project insertions.

“I’m not aware of the alleged P190 billion in insertions. I think that refers to the entire budget for farm-to-market roads,” Laurel said, adding that the department had not yet received the final budget.

Laurel said the DA initially sought to restore its farm-to-market road allocation to P33 billion, but the fiscal cap imposed on the department was P16 billion. He said the department had requested more than P30 billion, but only P16 billion was approved as its net allocation.

The People’s Budget Coalition reportedly cited P55 billion for farm-to-market roads. Laurel said that if this were the final allocation, the additional funding beyond the DA’s P16-billion allocation would account for the remaining amount.

He said the department would welcome additional funding as long as projects were located in appropriate areas and addressed the needs of farmers and fisherfolk.

“We have a farm-to-market road map, and whenever additional farm-to-market roads are allocated to us, they are usually part of our validated list,” Laurel said.

He acknowledged reports of a proposed project appearing near Benham Rise and another appearing to be located in the sea. Laurel said such cases could result from errors in entering coordinates or transferring information into documents.

He added that personnel from the Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering had joined the Senate discussions and were examining the reported errors. In one case, he said, a misplaced decimal point may have caused a project’s location to appear incorrect.

Laurel said the problem could occur when coordinates entered into a computer are manually transferred to printed documents for requests or approval.

The agriculture chief also noted that requests for farm-to-market roads come from communities across the country, including ordinary residents, barangay officials, local government officials and cooperatives.

“Honestly, any additional funding is welcome for our farmers and fisherfolk, as long as the projects are placed in the right locations and directed to the right beneficiaries,” he said.

Laurel added that roads are important not only for agricultural communities but also for tourism areas, particularly poorer localities where improved access can help support economic development.