The Department of Agriculture (DA) has filed charges before the Office of the Ombudsman against several officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and companies allegedly involved in the ghost farm-to-market road projects worth P94 million in Davao Occidental.

DA Secretary Francisco Tiu-Laurel Jr. led the filing of graft, malversation, and falsification of public documents, grave misconduct, and serious dishonesty charges against six officials of DPWH-Davao Occidental Engineering District and eight construction companies on Thursday, May 21, 2026.

Laurel said the projects that were supposed to be implemented in several areas in the province, including Barangays Caburan, Culaman, Datu Danwata, Demolo, Tical, and Manuel Peralta, were found to be non-existent.

In October 2025, Laurel visited some of the projects that had already been paid for but reportedly found no farm-to-market roads on site.

The Agriculture secretary said no congressmen were identified as having requested or been involved in these projects.

GMA Regional TV One Mindanao is reaching out to the DPWH officials and the companies named in the complaint for a statement, as of this writing.

DA said there around 4,000 farm-to-market road projects, with over 1,000 already inspected.

"I'm not sure. Everybody has a request no. To request a farm-to-market, it can be a cong., the D.A., it can be a mayor, a barangay captain. It can be a coop or a farmer itself or the fisherman. We're just following a paper trail. Walang politikong respondent,” Laurel said.