Senate questions P8-B farm-to-market roads in DPWH budget

Proposed funding for farm-to-market roads (FMR) nearly doubled in the 2026 budget process, increasing from P16 billion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) to P32.6 billion in the version of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) passed by the House of Representatives.

- By NEIL JAYSON SERVALLOS

During the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)'s budget hearing yesterday, senators questioned its officials over the inclusion of P8 billion worth of FMRs in its proposed 2026 budget.

Finance committee chair Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the amount is not part of the agency’s master plan, warning that the funds could go unused or misaligned with actual agricultural needs.

The implementation of FMR projects has been transferred to the Department of Agriculture (DA) from the DPWH due to questions on the latter’s alleged anomalous implementation leading to “extreme overpricing.”

However, the issues raised during Monday’s hearing have yet to be dealt with by the DPWH when the FMR implementation was transferred to the DA.

“Because we saw in the GAB, there’s a bigger allocation for FMR... So the point is we're cleaning up the DPWH, we've transferred to DA any possible issue,” Gatchalian said during the budget hearing.