Farm-to-market road errors ‘blown out of proportion’ – House rep

MANILA, Philippines —Concerns over incorrect farm-to-market road (FMR) coordinates had been blown out of proportion after the Department of Agriculture (DA) admitted that only eight of 1,669 projects in the proposed 2027 national budget contained errors.

Camarines Sur 4th District Rep. Arnie Fuentebella issued that statement on Wednesday, pointing out that the eight projects represented less than 1 percent of the total and should not create the impression that the entire FMR program was riddled with mistakes.

“There are just eight lang out of [more than] 1,600. It seems to be blown out of proportion. Like the whole budget or coordinates of the farm-to-market roads were wrong,” Fuentebella said in a mix of Filipino and English during a hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food.

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READ: DA: Flawed farm-to-market road data came from NEP

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The committee chair, Quezon 1st District Rep. Mark Enverga, raised the issue and asked the DA to explain the incorrect coordinates.

DA Assistant Secretary for Operations U-Nichols Manalo confirmed that eight projects had errors and clarified that all 1,669 FMR projects were included in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), the proposed budget submitted by the executive branch.

“We’d like to inform the committee that yung the — or the1,669 FMR projects — are within the NEP. Thy’re not what we call inserted farm-to-market road projects,” Manalo said.

The DA earlier said the errors involved one or two mistyped digits in project coordinates.

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The discrepancies were flagged by civil society groups, including the People’s Budget Coalition, BetterGov.ph, and BistoProyekto, during Senate deliberations on the DA’s proposed 2027 budget.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. subsequently ordered a review of project documents and validation procedures to correct the errors and prevent similar mistakes.

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Fuentebella said Congress still had time to correct the coordinates because deliberations on the proposed budget were not yet finished.

“I think the budget process isn’t finished yet, no? So Congress, it still has the Senate [process], and there’s also the bicam. I think you can still correct it,” he said.

“We’re not here to find fault or blame anyone,” Fuentebella added.

He also urged the DA to improve its geotagging and validation procedures, particularly in remote agricultural areas where mobile signals are weak.

He stressed that FMRs are important in helping farmers earn more by reducing transportation costs.

He welcomed the DA’s acknowledgment of the mistakes and its commitment to correct them.

“So we’re not trying to find reasons for you, but we would like to thank you and appreciate the DA for standing up for your mistakes,” Fuentebella said.

Manalo earlier told Enverga that the eight projects might not be implemented if the incorrect coordinates remained unchanged once the budget was approved.

READ: DA to start farm-to-market road projects

“We will be losing those eight farm-to-market road projects because they can’t be implemented because of what happened in the encoding,” Manalo said.

Enverga welcomed the DA’s efforts to review the coordinates and work with civil society organizations (CSOs).

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“We support the Department of Agriculture dun sa initiative ninyo to review the budget coordinates. And then I think there will be reforms, and we’re glad that you’re working with the CSOs,” Enverga said. /atm