Farm to market road budget doubles to P32B in 2026 GAB —Sen. Gatchalian

The proposed budget for farm-to-market road (FMR) projects ballooned from P16 billion in the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP) to P32.6 billion in the House of Representatives' approved version of the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB). 

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, revealed this during the continuation of the deliberations on the proposed P625.78 billion budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for next year. 

He noted that the allocation for the FMR increased by 104% from the P16 billion in the 2026 NEP for 867 projects, to P32.6 billion in the 2026 GAB for 1,656 projects. 

“So nadagdagan ng P16 billion. Ang punto ko kasi, naglilinis ho tayo sa DPWH, nai-transfer naman natin sa DA (Department of Agriculture) ‘yung pwedeng maging isyu,” Gatchalian said. 

(A P16 billion was added. My point is, we are cleaning up the DPWH, but we transferred what could be an issue to the DA.) 

Engr. Cristy Cecilia Polido, director of the DA’s Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering, affirmed that FMRs will not be constructed if they are not included in the national FMR network plan. 

Polido explained that all FMR projects included in the 2026 NEP are in the network plan. However, she admitted that not all of the additional projects in the 2026 GAB, amounting to P16.6 billion, are in the network plan. 

“They are yet to be validated. Some of which are included, some of which are yet to be validated and included in the FMR NP,” she said. 

“As of today, sa P32 billion, the validated are already around P24 billion… P24 billion ang nasa (are included in the) network plan. So for validation pa po, Mr. Chairman, some of those FMRs,” she added. 

Asked if the remaining P8 billion-worth of projects are not in the network plan, Polido clarified that they are not yet so far. 

“So kung wala siya sa network plan, dapat hindi gawin,” Gatchalian said. 

(So if it’s not in the network plan, it should not be constructed.) 

“Kasi ang iniiwasan ho natin ngayon ‘yung mga FMR na hindi naman pasok doon sa inyong master plan di ba ho? Kasi kung hindi pasok sa master plan ho ninyo, e di hindi magagamit ng ating mga magsasaka at mangingisda ‘yung FMR,” he added. 

(What we are avoiding now are the FMRs that are not part of your master plan. Because if they are not part of your master plan, our farmers and fishermen will not be able to use those FMRs.) 

Polido, in response, explained that the “evolving” master plan should also be considered.

She also said that the DPWH still has to get clearance from the DA prior to the construction to prove that the projects are indeed validated and feasible. 

“For purposes of budgeting, hindi pwedeng moving target eh... Okay ‘yung prospective, pero kapag maglalagay ka ng pondo, hindi pwedeng maglagay ng pondo saka tayo gumawa ng master plan. Parang sino-shoot mo ‘yung master plan sa pondo eh. Dapat ‘yung pondo i-shoot sa master plan di ba,” Gatchalian said. 

(For purposes of budgeting, there can't be a moving target... It's okay if it’s prospective, but when it comes to budgeting, you can’t make a master plan only after funding is given. It's like you're shooting the master plan in the funds. The funds should fit in the master plan.) 

To recall, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. committed to undertaking the construction of FMR projects after it was revealed in a Senate hearing that some projects of the DPWH were allegedly overpriced. 

Gatchalian earlier tagged as overpriced the FMR projects in 2023 and 2024, amounting to a total of P10.3 billion. 

The standard cost for FMRs, as set by the DPWH, is typically at P15,000 per meter, and could even go as low as P10,000 per meter.

Tiu Laurel said that the billions-worth of suspicious FMR projects stretching to 70,000 kilometers were already flagged by the DA and considered as “ghost or semi-ghost projects.” —AOL, GMA Integrated News