DA chief Tiu Laurel orders audit of farm-to-market road projects

Taking cue from President Ferdinand Marcos "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s directive to probe anomalies in flood control projects, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has initiated a sweeping audit of all farm?to?market road (FMR) projects since 2021.

"These roads are meant to connect production areas to markets. With what is happening now in flood control projects, I ordered an audit of all FMR projects from 2021 to 2025. If there are any issues in these agricultural road projects, I will have to report that to President Marcos," Tiu Laurel said in a statement on Thursday.

The Agriculture chief said the FMR audit is targeted to be completed by the end of this year.

"We must make sure they are done properly, that taxpayers' money were spent to provide farmers with market access and not squandered for farm-to-pocket projects," he said.

Tiu Laurel noted that FMR projects are identified and validated by the DA, but are commissioned, bid out, and constructed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

With the FMR audit under way, the Agriculture chief stressed that there should be "no shortcuts, no excuses, and the farm-to-market roads must lead somewhere."

Citing the FMR roadmap, the DA chief said the government is targeting to build 131,000 kms of FMRs to link farms with markets. 

As of July this year, about 70,000 kms of FMRs have been completed and about 61,000 kms now considered as backlog or pending validation.

During DA's 2026 budget hearing at the House of Representatives, Tiu Laurel called on lawmakers to pass legislation that mandates a priority list for FMR projects—moving away from arbitrary selection of where to build those roads to address parochial concerns.

He recommended reviewing that priority list every three years to keep it aligned with agricultural needs.

Tiu Laurel, however, said funding remains a concern. For 2026, the DA has allocated P16 billion for FMRs—far short of the P56 billion in pending requests from 2025 alone.

To stretch resources, he proposed redesigning road dimensions—narrower roadways of three meters instead of five meters, with shoulders every 300 meters to facilitate traffic movement—to cut costs and build more roads faster. — VDV, GMA Integrated News