DA urges public to monitor construction of farm-to-market roads

The Department of Agriculture is calling on farmers, local government units, and the public to help in monitoring the construction of farm-to-market roads (FMRs) that directly affect food production and the income of local farmers.

The DA is set to launch an “FMR Watch” platform in which the public can upload photos, report the progress of projects, and flag issues directly from construction sites.

“We will do a number of things like the FMR Watch website, wherein our netizens or ordinary citizens or local government officials could help monitoring projects and upload photos into that website so we at the DA could track their progress, or lack thereof,” DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a press release.

“We will also build a portal where they can see the exact location of the road projects so they could easily go there and inspect the FMR,'' he added.

He underscored that participation is essential to prevent abuses in the implementation of these projects.

“We need everyone’s help to monitor all of these FMR projects in order to do them properly at the fastest possible time. These initiatives, we believe, will greatly help in keeping everyone honest and ensure precious public funds do not end up in some unscrupulous individual’s pockets,'' Tiu Laurel said.

The DA said the country needs around 131,000 kilometers of FMRs, but more than 60,000 kilometers are yet to be constructed.

The Department said the backlog could take decades and multiple administrations to finish.

At present, the DA is conducting an audit of some 5,000 kilometers of FMRs completed in recent years to verify whether they meet technical specifications and were finished as planned. — BAP, GMA Integrated News