DA flags P100-M 'missing' farm-to-market roads in Davao Occidental

The Department of Agriculture on Thursday flagged eight “missing” farm-to-market roads in Davao Occidental worth some P100 million that were funded from 2021 to 2023 but never built, according to an initial audit report.

In a briefing on Thursday, DA spokesperson Arnel de Mesa said initial reports found that there were four projects in Davao Occidental that were funded under the national budget for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023, and should have already been completed.

These were reported to have been completed, but the projects recorded no accomplishments as of September 2025. There were also ongoing construction activities during the audit, which De Mesa said could be attempts to catch up.

“Since lapsed na ‘yung budget, dapat wala na, pero mayroong gumalaw. Di ba ‘yung nakita ni Sec. na may mga portions. Ang tanong diyan, kaninong pondo ‘yung ginamit? May construction. Hinahabol,” De Mesa said.

(Since the budget already lapsed, this should be no more, but there are still movements, like what the Secretary saw. The question is whose funds were used? There are construction activities. They are trying to catch up.)

Aside from this, De Mesa also reported four other projects that had no accomplishments during the FMR Audit that was conducted in October 2025:

The data was forwarded to the Office of the President, and will also be submitted to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).

“Actually, ‘yung lahat ng possible cases, idadaan ‘yan sa ICI, so isa-submit ‘yung report.. Kasi ang implementation kasi is DPWH. Hindi naman DA, pero pondo kasi ng DA, so kailangan pa rin namin panindigan,” De Mesa said.

(Actually, the possible cases will be coursed through the ICI, so the report will be submitted to them. The implementation is under DPWH, not DA, but the funds were from the DA, so we still have to stand by it.)

According to De Mesa, the Department of Public Works and Highways will be liable for the missing projects, as it was the implementing agency, even if the budget came from the DA.

“Ang role ng DA sa FMR (The role of the DA in the FMR), again, is identification and validation of the sites, so walang role ang DA sa (so the DA has no role in) implementation, but supposed to be, we should monitor these projects,” he said.

“Apparently, ‘yun nga, kumbaga, DPWH lang ang nag-aaksyon kaya sila ‘yung nagbabayad, kasi nasa kanila na ‘yung pondo eh. So in terms of liability, walang liability si DA kasi wala siyang, hindi siya part dun sa kailangang pumirma para ma-release ang payment doon sa contractor kasi we are not party to the contract,” he added.

(Apparently, the DPWH was the only one acting because they were the one paying as the funds were with them. So in terms of liability, the DA has no liability because it was not part of the needed signatories for the payment to be released to the contractor because we are not party to the contract.)

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. earlier said there were P75-million worth of “ghost” farm-to-market roads in Mindanao, but then noted that these seemed to be isolated cases. —AOL, GMA Integrated News