Senator flags potential P10-billion loss from overpriced farm-to-market roads

A PHILIPPINE senator on Wednesday said the government might have lost more than P10billion to overpriced farm-to-market road projects from 2023 to 2024, calling it a clear sign of corruption.

- By Adrian H. Halili and Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

“Not only is it overpriced; it’s extremely, extremely overpriced,” Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian told a Senate hearing on the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) 2026 budget. “For me, this is an obvious sign of corruption.”

The senator said 1,653 farm-to-market road projects approved in the past two years were overpriced, resulting in estimated losses of P10.34 billion — equivalent to about 689 kilometers of farm roads.

The Bicol Region accounted for the highest number of overpriced projects, with 80 contracts worth P1.74 billion, followed by Eastern Visayas with P791 million and Central Luzon with P476.58 million, Mr. Gatchalian said.

He added that the amount lost could have been used to build a two-lane road stretching “from Manila to Aparri.”

He cited an estimated benchmark of P15,000 per meter for farm-to-market road construction, which he said was already high given the terrain. “The benchmark is only P15,000 per meter, which is already high considering the soil is soft,” he said.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said the DA would coordinate with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which oversees the construction of farm-to-market roads.