Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has issued a sweeping audit of all farm‑to‑market road (FMR) projects since 2021—taking his cue from investigation initiated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on controversial flood control works of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Though FMR schemes are identified and validated by the Department, these road projects are commissioned, bid out, and constructed by the DPWH. Now, Tiu Laurel is demanding transparency, quality, and results.
“These roads are meant to connect production areas to markets.”
“These roads are meant to connect production areas to markets,” he said. “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.”
The FMR audit, the agriculture chief said, should 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,” the agriculture head said.
“I recommend reviewing the priority list every three years to keep it aligned with agricultural needs.”
According to the government’s roadmap, the target is to build 131,000 kilometers of FMRs to link farms with markets. Reports as of July show roughly 70,000 kilometers have been completed—and about 61,000 kilometers now considered as backlog or pending validation.
During DA’s 2026 budget hearing at the House of Representatives, Tiu Laurel pressed 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 recommends reviewing that priority list every three years to keep it aligned with agricultural needs.
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, Tiu Laurel proposes redesigning road dimensions: narrower roadways of 3 meters instead of 5 meters, with shoulders every 300 meters to facilitate traffic movement—to cut costs and build more roads faster.
With the audit under way, he is sending a message that is clear: no shortcuts, no excuses, and the farm to market roads must lead somewhere.
